CHELYABINSK, September 14, RIA Novosti. – Over 100,000 worshippers in the South Urals are expected to bow to the relics of St. John Chrysostom. The relics are to arrive in the Chelyabinsk Region from Moscow on Saturday, Feofilakt the Bishop of Magnitogorsk, the diocesan vicar of Chelyabinsk, told RIA Novosti.
// Sep. 14, 2007 - 15:49 GMT
ABU-DHABI, August 31 (RIA Novosti) – Saudi Arabia's religious police are insisting that authorities of Medina, one of Islam's holiest cities, should build separate sidewalks for women, the Kuwaiti Al-Qabas newspaper said Friday.
// Aug. 31, 2007 - 08:08 GMT
KAZAN, July 27 (RIA Novosti) – Russia's chief sanitary doctor upheld Friday the Moscow mayor's initiative to make students take drug tests.
// Jul. 27, 2007 - 09:03 GMT
ROME, July 9 (RIA Novosti) – Italian Piero Paci, who turns 90 this October, has successfully climbed a 3,000-meter (9,000-foot) mountain, setting a Guinness record, witnesses said.
// Jul. 09, 2007 - 08:39 GMT
MOSCOW, June 14 (RIA Novosti) – A teenage Russian ultra-nationalist who earlier confessed to killing 37 people has withdrawn his testimony, despite substantial proof of guilt, a popular Russian daily said Thursday.
// Jun. 14, 2007 - 10:11 GMT
YEKATERINBURG, May 31 (RIA Novosti) – Russia leads the world in the prevalence of smoking, a leading lung specialist in the Ural Region of Sverdlovsk said Thursday.
// May. 31, 2007 - 09:16 GMT
MOSCOW, May 28 (RIA Novosti) – A young nationalist suspected of killing an Armenian businessman confessed to killing 37 people together with his friend, a popular Russian daily said Monday.
// May. 28, 2007 - 10:40 GMT
MOSCOW, March 6 (RIA Novosti) – Russia's health ministry predicted Tuesday that the birth rate in Russia was set to increase by 26% by the end of 2009 as a result of measures taken to resolve the demographic problem.
// Mar. 06, 2007 - 13:41 GMT
MOSCOW, March 5 (RIA Novosti) – The head of Russia's service overseeing healthcare and social development, Ramil Khabriyev, has been dismissed over the shortage of prescription drugs, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said Monday.
// Mar. 05, 2007 - 12:41 GMT
MOSCOW, January 29 (RIA Novosti) – Activists of Russian liberal party Yabloko held a rally in central Moscow to protest authorities' refusal to register its ballots for upcoming regional elections, a RIA Novosti correspondent said Monday.
Election committees in the North Caucasus republic of Daghestan and Russia's second city, St. Petersburg, refused to register Yabloko for the March regional legislature elections, saying that more than 10% of signatures in support of the party list had been deemed invalid.
Yabloko leaders called the decision "politically motivated", and expressed concern that the party will face the same fate in the Moscow Region in the next few days.
More than 40 Yabloko activists gathered Monday near the former Lenin Museum in Moscow to protest against the move, and to urge authorities to return to fair elections.
In 2003, the party, led by Grigory Yavlinsky, won only four seats in Russia's 450-seat Duma, all from single-mandate districts, as it garnered less than the 5% of the vote necessary for its deputies to be elected from party lists. The lower house has become increasingly dominated by pro-Kremlin party United Russia.
Russia's election legislation has been subject to several amendments since the previous polls, which have been vehemently criticized by rights groups, who consider the changes part of the Kremlin's ongoing clampdown on democracy.
Lawmakers have abolished the 20% threshold for voter turnout, and canceled early voting and the "against all candidates" option on election ballots at all levels. The Kremlin has said these changes are needed to safeguard the development of Russian democracy from irresponsible marginal parties.
The threshold for parties seeking seats in the State Duma has also been increased from 5% to 7% in a move "to encourage parties to work harder and unite," according to top election official Alexander Veshnyakov.
// Jan. 29, 2007 - 11:19 GMT