The latest: Israel Rejects Russia’s Call for Truce, Says It Would Give Hezbollah Time to Regroup

11.08.2006
Israel Rejects Russia’s Call for Truce, Says It Would Give Hezbollah Time to Regroup
Israel’s representative to the United Nations Dan Gillerman has rejected Russia’s proposal at the Security Council demanding a 72-hour humanitarian truce in Lebanon. Israel said the move would allow Hezbollah fighters a respite.

11.08.2006
Russia Will Gun Down Passenger Jets Hijacked by Terrorists — Air Force Commander
Passenger planes hijacked by terrorists may be brought down only if there is a tangible threat to significant installations on the Russian territory, Russia’s chief air force commander told the media a day after Britain said it had foiled a terrorist plot to hijack several U.S.-bound planes.

11.08.2006
NATO Sends Ships to Ukraine for Military Exercise
NATO countries on Friday sent navy ships to Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Sevastopol for a military exercise, the first after a month-long anti-NATO protest forced the cancellation of U.S.-Ukrainian maneuvers.

11.08.2006
Russian Activists Protest Extradition of Uzbek Suspects
A small group of rights activists demonstrated today in Moscow against a decision to extradite 13 people to Uzbekistan. The 12 Uzbek nationals and one Kyrgyz citizen are wanted in connection with the May 2005 unrest in the city of Andijan.

11.08.2006
Another Russian Hermitage Larceny Suspect Detained
Another suspect in the theft of artwork from St. Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum, a 38-year-old man, was detained outside the city on Thursday, a source in law enforcement said.

11.08.2006
4 Latvian Fugitives Caught in Lithuania Near Poland Border
Police arrested four men who had fled from a maximum security prison in the Latvian capital earlier this week at the Lithuania-Poland border, a prison official said Friday.

11.08.2006
New British Flight Rules Threaten Musical Instruments — Bolshoi Chief Conductor
New baggage regulations for flights after a major terrorism alert in London are a source of serious concern for the musical world, the head of the Bolshoi Theater has said.

11.08.2006
Russia Denies Reports of Antitank Exports to Lebanon
The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied reports that modern Russian-made antitank weapons have been supplied to Lebanon. Earlier some media reports said, citing Israeli officials, that Hezbollah fighters were using Russian-made weapons.

11.08.2006
Hermitage Thief Stole to Pay For Medicine — Husband
The Russian museum curator who stole artifacts from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg did so to buy medicine that she couldn’t afford on her salary, her husband has claimed. Nikolai Zavadsky confessed to selling the stolen goods to pawnbrokers but said the couple were driven to theft by poverty. His wife could not afford costly insuline for her diabetes.

11.08.2006
Russia Calls for 72-Hour Humanitarian Cease-fire in Lebanon
Russia circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution Thursday that calls for a 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire in Lebanon, saying the crisis was reaching “catastrophic” proportions and was too urgent to wait for passage of a separate U.S.-French measure. “The humanitarian situation is getting catastrophic,” Russia’s UN envoy said.