MOSCOW. (Maxim Krans, RIA Novosti political...

MOSCOW. (Maxim Krans, RIA Novosti political commentator) - On September 1, 2004, The North Caucasus town of Beslan became know to the world for a tragic reason. A terrorist group took hostage 1,128 people who gathered at a local school on that day; two days later, 319 hostages including 187 children were killed in the storming of the building. Hundreds of schoolchildren and their relatives were injured.

MOSCOW, January 11 (RIA Novosti) - A Cameroon...

MOSCOW, January 11 (RIA Novosti) - A Cameroon national who was attacked on Saturday in the Russian capital by a group of unidentified assailants died in hospital overnight, a police source said. The man was attacked in northwestern Moscow late on Saturday by at least three young people, sustaining four knife injuries in the back. "The male victim was assaulted in a park...and later died in hospital from knife wounds," the source said. Police are still searching for the suspects. Russia"s Interior Ministry warned in December there could be a rise in crime against foreigners and migrant workers amid the worsening economic situation in the country. The ministry has set up a special group to investigate crimes related to racial hatred. On December 6, Salokhiddin Azizov, a 20-year-old migrant worker from Tajikistan was murdered and decapitated in a forest near Moscow. Azizov"s head was later found in a rubbish dumpster. A group calling themselves the Combat Organization of Russian Nationalists has claimed responsibility for the attack. According to the Russian non-governmental organization SOVA, 68 people died and 262 were injured in racially motivated attacks in the country in the first eight months of 2008. Eighty-five people died in race-hate murders in 2007 in Russia.

The Russian representative office in the...

The Russian representative office in the Vatican, will change its diplomatic status and become a full-fledged embassy, the Russian government said on its Web site on Saturday.