* Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili signed a decree ending the country's participation in the Council of CIS Defense Ministers

// Feb. 04, 2006 - 07:30 GMT

MISSION CONTROL (Korolyov, Moscow Region), February 3 (RIA Novosti) – The two astronauts currently working at the International Space Station completed their second spacewalk from the station at 4:27 a.m. GMT Saturday.

// Feb. 04, 2006 - 08:03 GMT

A plot to kill Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili by shooting down his helicopter has been foiled, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said. A portable Igla anti-aircraft missile and its launcher had been discovered close to the border with the breakaway region of South Ossetia and near a regular flight path of Saakashvili's helicopter.

// Feb. 04, 2006 - 08:05 GMT

The crew of the International Space Station (ISS), Russian astronaut Valery Tokarev and his American colleague William MacArthur have performed a six-hour space walk and successfully returned to the station. They carried out a series of scientific tasks and made minor adjustments to sections of the station.

// Feb. 04, 2006 - 08:13 GMT

MOSCOW, February 4 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref is set to visit India Saturday to sign a protocol to formalize the completion of bilateral talks on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the ministry's press service said.

// Feb. 04, 2006 - 08:13 GMT

The U.S. State Department has said that a high-level visit to Belarus by U.S. and European Union officials has been canceled because Belarusian authorities would not issue visas. They had planned the trip to discuss upcoming Presidential elections in Belarus.

// Feb. 04, 2006 - 08:47 GMT

Russians could suffer a shortage of their national tipple next week because a bureaucratic mix-up has brought every vodka distillery in the country to a halt. Many distillers have been waiting for a month for new excise stamps – the anti-counterfeit stickers that by law must be attached to every bottle, but have not received them yet.

// Feb. 04, 2006 - 09:27 GMT

MUNICH, February 4 (RIA Novosti) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel highlighted Saturday Russia's important role in resolving the tension surrounding Iran's nuclear program. Merkel said during a security conference in Munich that the German-Russian strategic partnership should also help resolve the problem.

// Feb. 04, 2006 - 09:27 GMT

In a new blueprint for U.S. defenses, the Pentagon has said Russia no longer poses the same military threat to the U.S. as Soviet Union did. The place of the main rival will soon be occupied by China that is even able to make up the traditional U.S. arms advantages.

// Feb. 04, 2006 - 09:54 GMT

MUNICH, February 4 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is not a guest of NATO at the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) but an equal partner, the German Chancellor said during a security conference in Munich Saturday.

// Feb. 04, 2006 - 10:09 GMT