The latest: Russians Successfully Evacuated from Gaza

18.07.2006
Russians Successfully Evacuated from Gaza — Moscow
Nationals of Russia and other post-Soviet states have been successfully evacuated from Gaza, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported Tuesday.

18.07.2006
Ukraine’s Pro-Russian Alliance Urges Yushchenko to Accept Their Leader as PM
A new coalition headed by the main loser in Ukraine’s “Orange Revolution” pressed on with its case to form a government on Tuesday after four months of bitter exchanges which have pitched the country into political turmoil.

18.07.2006
Russian Weightlifters Fear 2008 Olympic Ban Over Doping
The Russian Weightlifting Federation fears it could be barred from the 2008 Beijing Olympics after two of its top lifters received two-year doping bans in the past few days.

18.07.2006
Bullet-Biting Tajik Sues Russian Police for Moral Damages
A man who was shot in the mouth by a policeman in the Moscow metro has filed a suit against the Russian Military Ministry seeking one million rubles, or some $37,000, in moral damages.

18.07.2006
Baghdad Takes Offence at Putin’s Remarks on Iraqi Democracy
The Iraqi government on Tuesday criticized recent remarks of Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the state of democracy in Iraq and said it was astonished by those remarks.

18.07.2006
Russian Security Service Says Terrorist Attacks Averted During G8 Summit
Russia’s law-enforcement and security agencies have thwarted the intention of terrorists and extremists to disrupt the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, the Director of the Russian Federal Security Service said.

18.07.2006
Georgian Parliament Passes Resolution to Suspend Russian Peacekeepers
The Georgian Parliament has approved a resolution instructing the government to launch relevant procedures in order to immediately suspend “the so-called peacekeeping operations” in breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

18.07.2006
Cherie Blair Pledges Support to Pressured Russian NGOs
British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife, a top human rights lawyer, offered to help Russian rights groups appeal against a controversial new law backed by President Vladimir Putin.

18.07.2006
First Russian Evacuees from Gaza Arrive in Moscow
An IL-62 aircraft of the Russian Emergencies Ministry has brought the first group of evacuated Russian and CIS nationals to Moscow from Palestine.

18.07.2006
Aging Oil Tankers May Provoke Ecological Disaster in Caspian Sea — Russian Expert
A Russian environmental official warned Monday of potential ecological disaster in the Caspian Sea if aging oil tankers are used to transport crude from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan to be pumped through a U.S.-backed pipeline that by-passes Russia.

18.07.2006
Russia Launches $1.3 Million Mobile Phone
A Moscow-based firm has launched production of what has been tagged as the world’s costliest mobile phone at $1.3 million.

18.07.2006
U.S. Condemns Sentencing of Belarus Opposition Leader
The United States has condemned the conviction and sentencing on July 13 of former Belarusian presidential candidate Aleksandr Kozulin, the State Department official website says.

18.07.2006
Russia-U.S. Bill to Protect Polar Bear Approved
The House has given its approval to a U.S.-Russia treaty to help protect polar bears from overhunting and other threats to their survival.

18.07.2006
European Satellite Launch Postponed Due to Russian Rocket Problem
The launch of a European weather satellite on a Russian rocket has been postponed 24 hours because of a problem with the rocket.

18.07.2006
U.S. Will Not Recognize Belarus-Russia Union State — Ambassador
The United States will not recognize a Belarus-Russia Union state, U.S. ambassador to Belarus George Krol has said.