15:41
PRESIDENT PUTIN: RUSSIA OFFERS FAVORABLE OPPORTUNITIES TO FINNISH BUSINESSMEN
Vladimir Putin thinks that low taxes in Russia create favorable opportunities for Finnish businessmen. More detail...

15:35
RUSSIA SEES NO POINT IN NATO EXPANSION
Russia does not view NATO as an adversarial organization, yet sees no point in its expansion, President Putin said in an interview with YLE [the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation] in the leadup to his September 2-3 visit to Finland. More detail...

15:05
PALESTINIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE OFFICIAL KILLED IN GAZA STRIP
A deputy head of Palestinian General Intelligence Service Taiseer Khatab has died as a result of injury received in an explosion of his car. More detail...

14:07
PRESIDENT PUTIN: RELATIONS BETWEEN RUSSIA AND FINLAND ARE SPECIAL
Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that relations established between Russia and Finland have been special. More detail...

13:15
JORDANIAN AND EGYPTIAN OFFICIALS TO HOLD SUMMIT
Jordanian and Egyptian officials will hold a summit in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of Alexandria, all Egyptian central newspapers reported. More detail...

12:10
AUSTRALIA: TAMPA ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS – A SOLUTION?
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Saturday that New Zealand and the Pacific island of Nauru had agreed to take the more than 400 asylum seekers stranded on a Norwegian container vessel in the Indian Ocean. More detail...

11:37
MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT ADDRESSED UN TO RETURN BLUE HELMETS TO THE COUNTRY
Macedonian administration calls for the return of the UN Blue Helmets to the country in order to ensure peace and stability in the state, Macedonian President Boris Trajkovsi was quoted as saying in his address to the Parliament. More detail...

11:05
MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE ARMS SMUGGLED TO CROATIA
The ex-president of Argentina, Carlos Menem, has been notified by a judge of a case to be opened against him for suspected arms trafficking to Croatia in 1993. More detail...

11:04
DEFIANT MILOSEVIC STANDS FIRM
A defiant and resolute Slobodan Milosevic stood firm against his accusers at the Hague Tribunal, accusing Washington of attempted murder and the Hague itself of being a false tribunal which had violated his personal rights. More detail...

11:03
BRAZILIAN BILLIONAIRE LIVES WEEK OF HORROR
A Brazilian billionaire lived a week to forget – after his daughter disappeared, it was discovered that she had been kidnapped. One day after he had paid the ransom and she was released, it was the father’s turn. More detail...

11:02
AIRBUS INCIDENT IN AZORES ISLANDS
The company Airbus has issued a warning to all airlines about a possible danger in the fuel injection system which has hitherto gone undetected after a near mid-Atlantic disaster in the Portuguese Azores islands. More detail...

20:53
RUSSIA UNVEILS NEW PROGRAMME FOR CHEMICAL DISARMAMENT
In September, Sergei Kiriyenko, chairman of the state committee on chemical disarmament and presidential envoy to the Volga Federal District, on Vladimir Putin's instructions, will lead a Russian delegation to the capitals of Group of Seven industrialised countries and also The Hague, his office said. More detail...

18:38
ANDREI KRUSHINSKI: WAR GAMES NEAR CHINESE COAST
China’s military fliers piloting Su-27s have at last deserved a praise from Gen. Jang Wannyan. Reviewing yesterday the just finished 4-month long exercises of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLAC), this influential Chinese military leader More detail...

15:49
CITY COURT OF THE HAGUE REJECTS MILOSEVIC'S ACTION
On Friday, the City Court of the Hague rejected ex-Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic's action against the Dutch state. The court ruled that it is not authorized to have the ex-president released, since such authority was delegated to the United Nations. More detail...

15:45
FEDERATION COUNCIL SPEAKER: VIOLENCE IS NO WAY TO STOP MIDEASTERN CONFLICT
Speaker of Russia's Federation Council Yegor Stroyev thinks the international community, including Russia, must "be more active in urging Israel and Palestine" to stop violence and resume peace talks. More detail...

15:39
HUNDREDS OF MACEDONIANS BLOCK PARLIAMENT
Hundreds of Macedonians blocked all the entrances into the parliamentary building Friday in a bid to thwart the debate on constitutional amendments giving more rights to the country's ethnic Albanians. More detail...

15:39
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY HOSTS ISRAELI AMBASSADOR
Moscow believes that the Palestinians and the Israeli have to establish regular contacts and decide on specific steps to reach detente, Vasily Sredin, Special Presidential Envoy responsible for the Mid Eastern settlement and Deputy Foreign Minister, was quoted as saying during his meeting with Israeli Ambassador in Russia Natan Meron. More detail...

15:30
ESCORT OF SLOVAK PRIME MINISTER GETS IN ROAD ACCIDENT IN YUGOSLAVIA - TWO PEOPLE KILLED
One member of the Slovak delegation headed by Prime Minister Mikolas Dzurinda was killed in a road accident on Belgrade-Novi Sad highway. Another person was killed in the accident with the Prime Minister's escort. Head of the Slovak government was not injured and has already come back to Belgrade. More detail...

14:50
AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION SPEAKS ON
The Australian Minister for Immigration Mr. Philip Ruddock made the following remarks at the Parliament House, Canberra in connection with the Tampa crisis: More detail...

14:17
AGREEMENT ON DEVELOPMENT OF THREE CASPIAN OIL FIELDS SIGNED IN BAKU
Presidents of the Azeri International Operational Company (AIOC) and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCA) David Woodworth and Natik Aliyev respectively signed on Thursday an agreement on the commencement of the Faza-1 full-scale development program of the Caspian Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli off-shore oil field. More detail...

14:06
CYPRIOT FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS WITH ST. PETERSBURG MAYOR
Cyprus' visiting Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, who arrived in St. Petersburg from Moscow earlier in the day, has met Governor of Russia's Northern capital Vladimir Yakovlev to discuss cooperation between Cyprus and St. Petersburg. More detail...

14:05
PAVEL BORODIN SUMMONED FOR INTERROGATION IN GENEVA FOR SEPTEMBER 17
Pavel Borodin, the State Secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union State, has been again summoned to Geneva for interrogation by Daniel Devaud, a Swiss investigator, on September 17, said Borodin's lawyer Genrikh Padva. Borodin is charged with money-laundering in Switzerland. More detail...

13:54
OVER 200 KG OF HEROIN SEIZED ON TAJIK-AFGHAN BORDER
Russian border guards of the Panj and Moscow detachments seized over 200 kilograms of heroin on the Tajik-Afghan border on Thursday evening and on the night from Thursday to Friday, a spokesman for Russia's Federal Border Guard Service (FPS) said on Friday. More detail...

12:35
DMITRY SKLYAROV RELEASED ON MONEY SECURITY. NEXT TRIAL FIXED FOR SEPTEMBER
Yesterday, San Jose court officially brought an accusation against Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov and Moscow ‘Elcomsoft’ company for which he works. Both are accused of infringement of law “About Copy Right in Digital Millenium” issued in 1988. More detail...

12:30
DEFENCE MINISTER OF IRAN TO VISIT RUSSIA IN EARLY SEPTEMBER
Defence Minister of Iran Ali Shamkhani will pay an official visit to Russia on September 4-7, RIA Novosti learned from the Russian Defence Ministry on Friday. More detail...

11:32
RUDOLF PERINA NAMED US SPECIAL ENVOY FOR THE TALKS ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH SETTLEMENT AND CONFLICTS IN EURASIA
The US Department of State has named the current US Ambassador in Moldova Rudolf Perina the US Special Envoy for the talks on Nagorno-Karabakh settlement and conflicts in Eurasia. More detail...

11:26
SERVICEMAN OF PALESTINE NATIONAL SECURITY FORCE KILLED IN SOUTH OF GAZA STRIP
On Thursday evening a serviceman of the national security force -- Yasser Arafat's guard -- was killed when Israeli troops shelled the Sheikh Ajin area in the south of the Gaza Strip not far from the Jewish settlement of Nezarim. More detail...

11:18
WORLD CONFERENCE ON RACISM TO BE HELD IN DURBAN FROM AUGUST 31 TILL SEPTEMBER 6
A World Conference against Racism will be held in Durban (South Africa) from August 31 till September 6. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Durban specially to attend the conference. He will participate in the official ceremony of the taking over of the Durban International Conference Centre, where the Conference will be held. More detail...

11:05
ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE PALESTINIAN LEADER IN RAMALLAH
A strong blast went off on Friday night in the house of Qais Samurai, Secretary of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Samurai is the leader of that Palestinian organization on the West bank of the Jordan river which has its headquarters in Damascus, reported official Palestinian sources. More detail...

11:02
WORLD CONFERENCE ON RACISM MUST STAY FOCUSSED
The Third World Conference on Racism in Durban, which starts tomorrow, must stay focussed if it is to launch a meaningful action plan which makes a difference, or else lose itself in a political squabble perpetrated by the USA and Israel, against the rest of the world. More detail...