RIGHTS:  Come Clean with Gorbachev
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LONDON, Sep 24 (IPS) - Mikhail Gorbachev is an ex-president going after  weapons of mass destruction. But not the way U.S. President  George Bush thought he was going after them in Iraq.
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_ THE ISSUE: Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's victory in the Nov. 21 presidential runoff has been challenged as fraudulent.
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The old Cold War-era eastern bloc has produced a few courageous champions of the people -- Lech Walesa, Mikhail Gorbachev and Vaclev Havel among them -- and new Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has the ...
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By MATTHEW LEE WASHINGTON - Fictional gay cowboys and a faux reporter from Kazakhstan suffered human rights abuses in 2006 as crackdowns on flesh and blood victims were extended to the Internet, award-winning films and noted plays worldwide, the State Department says.
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Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev  said on Tuesday he supported tough measures taken by Russian  President Vladimir Putin and wished he had adopted them.
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Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is recovering after an artery operation in Germany, officials say.
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"This is all good, but it is just a sign. We need to see real actions"  "This is how it is done in the European Union countries when there are suspicions, when there is a lack of trust." Stanishev also dismissed Justice Minister Georgi Petkanov, who tendered his resignation earlier ... via Gulf Times
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Freedom of speech is one of Russia's major accomplishments in recent 15 years. Now Russian journalists do not have to look back at the Kremlin to have an opportunity to set forth their own views on both home ...
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&quot;You bums and ingrates! You disgraced your sport and country! Matador defense and half-hearted effort? At the Olympics? The Commies cheated us in &#39;72, and our college kids weren&#39;t good enough in &#39;88, but this is unacceptable. So carry your sorry fannies ...
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Hundreds of pages of decades-old documents declassified and released by the CIA yesterday revealed a 1970s-era agency in the throes of unaccustomed self-examination, caught between its traditional secrecy and demands that it come clean on a  history of unsavory activities.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft is sidestepping an appeal from a former leader of the Soviet Union to intervene in a piracy case involving a school principal. Mikhail Gorbachev, who is credited with aiding the end of the Cold War, wrote to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Monday asking for help in halting the trial of Aleksandr Ponosov, 40, who could face up to five years in prison. In the letter, posted on his Web site in Russian, Gorbachev wrote that his country finds the prosecution of Ponosov scandalous. Ponosov, 40, was charged in November with using more than $10,000 in pirated Microsoft software. The principal claims he bought the computers with the unlicensed software preinstalled. Police seized 12 computers from his school in the village of Vereschagino in western Russia in May 2006, but soon returned them so the school could conduct its computer science exams. Gorbachev wrote that while Russian law allows for the prosecution of those who unknowingly use pirated software, the case against Ponosov is unwarranted. The former leader also made an emotional appeal, writing that Ponosov dedicated his life to teaching for a modest salary, which doesn't compare to those of Microsoft employees. Gorbachev's high-level intervention comes as Microsoft continues anÂ aggressive legal campaign to stop piracyÂ of its software. Microsoft has launched dozens of civil lawsuits and aided law enforcement in criminal investigations throughout Europe and the U.S. A Microsoft executive said Tuesday that Russian authorities contacted the company to verify the software was illegal. Microsoft did not request that charges be filed, and the decision to charge Ponosov was made by prosecutors, said Kim Gagne, corporate affairs director for central and eastern Europe. Microsoft will not pursue a civil case against the principal. "We don't see this as a serious violation," said Olga Dergunova, who heads Microsoft's Russian operations. The protection of intellectual property has become a key sticking point between Russia and the U.S., which has said lax enforcement hurts Russia's chances of entering the World Trade Organization. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week the focus should be on the producers and distributors of pirated software. "The law recognizes the concept of someone who purchased the product in good faith," Putin said at his annual press conference on Feb. 1. "It is easy to just grab someone and punish, but what we need to do is get to the bottom of each case, which is harder," he said. During a visit to Moscow in November, Gates said Microsoft will do what it can to provide Russian school children with advanced software while also praising government efforts to protect intellectual property, according to the RIA Novosti, a government-owned news agency. (Pavel Kupriyanov of Computerworld Russia contributed to this story). Â
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Documents relating to the disappearance of a girl nearly 50 years ago could be released under openness rules.
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The leader of the former Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, sets up a new political movement in Russia.
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One was held on suspicion of leaking  state secrets to foreigners. Another was accused of corruption,  detained for five months and then released without charge.
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A plea to prevent a Russian teacher from being sentenced to detention in Siberian prison camps is coming from an unlikely source: former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
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NOVOSIBIRSK. June 18 (Interfax) - Novosibirsk researcher Oleg Korobeinichev, accused of disclosing state secrets, has demanded an official apology for the moral damages he suffered, Korobeinichev's defense lawyer Andrei Zhukov told Interfax.
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Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev asked Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to intercede on behalf of a Russian teacher accused of using pirated software in his classroom.