News Show Up for the Show! By Anna Arutunyan and Dietwald Claus Western media were quick to interpret Moscow's MAKS airshow as yet another sign of Russia's alleged "expansionism," and another step toward restoring its military might. But these hawkish conclusions do not square with the history of MAKS.

News Russia Resumes Bomber Patrols MOSCOW (AFP, AP) - Russia said on Thursday that its return to the Soviet-era practice of sending strategic bombers on long-range flights was not a return to the Cold War.

News Russian Official Refutes Georgia’s Plane Claims MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's armed forces chief of staff on Thursday described as "hallucinations" Georgia's claim that Russian warplanes had violated its border on Tuesday, Interfax news agency reported.

News Russia Grounds Su-24s After Crash in Siberia MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia suspended all flights of its Su-24 frontline bombers after one of the planes crashed during a training flight in far eastern Siberia on Thursday, the Interfax news agency reported.

News Moscow Under Smog and Smoke Blanket By Sergei Dmitriyev On Monday and Tuesday Moscow was lost in a haze, as smoke from a string of peat and forest fires outside the city was blown into the capital

News News In Brief Russians to get used to 100 grams,Russia displays huge flag,Moscow bids to host first Youth Olympics in 2010,Russia proves Arctic claim and Russia Island quake leaves 8,000 homeless...

Politics Vladimir Churov: Whoever Tries to Tamper with the System, Will Have to Deal with Me By Tamara Zamyatina Will Vladimir Churov, who was elected CEC chairman on March 27, manage, before the December parliamentary elections, to convince the skeptics that electoral law will be religiously enforced? That is an uphill task. In an interview with MN, Vladimir Churov discusses ways of tackling it.

News Migrant Workers in Moscow to Get New IDs By Sergei Dmitriyev Moscow authorities have announced that they will introduce magnetic plastic cards for migrants. The new ID's will contain a large variety of the holder's passport and medical information. On Thursday, Yevgeny Chernetsov, the head of the labor exchange of the Moscow Committee on Interregional Ties and Ethnic Policy, announced the plan, first floated last year by Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov.

National Schools Failing Fire Safety Inspections By Anna Arutunyan Hundreds of schools across the country have been shut down by court order after failing to pass fire safety inspections. Now, with Sept. 1 - the first day of school - just days away, not all of the educational facilities may be able to meet the fire safety standards in time.

National Tongues Wag Over Presidential Pecs By Mike Eckel Vladimir Putin stripped off his shirt for the cameras while on holiday with Prince Albert II of Monaco in the Siberian mountains last week. Kremlin watchers have been busy trying to guess what kind of political message the pictures might send. Russian gay chat rooms and blogs were particularly intrigued by the photos: Some claimed that Putin, by stripping to his waist, was somehow pleading for more tolerance of homosexuality in Russia.

World Sharp Rise Seen In U.S. Army Suicides Ninety-nine U.S. soldiers killed themselves last year, the highest rate of suicide in the Army in 26 years, a new report says. More than one out of four soldiers who committed suicide did so while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to a new report. Iraq was the most common deployment location for U.S. soldiers who either attempted suicide or committed suicide.

National Bookies Back Ivanov to be Next MOSCOW (Reuters) - Opinion polls make Sergei Ivanov the favorite to be Russia's next president and now bookmakers - renowned for being canny judges of form - are backing him for the Kremlin top job too.

World Ethiopia Prepares Millennium Bash ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - More than seven years after most of the world marked the start of the 21st century, Ethiopia is putting the finishing touches to its own millennium bash.

World Russia Pessimistic About Kosovo Deal MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia acknowledged on Thursday that getting Serbs and Albanians to compromise on Kosovo in upcoming talks would be "unbelievably difficult."

World Chile May Consider Giving Bolivia Ocean Access SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile should be open to giving neighboring Bolivia access to the Pacific Ocean, but that does not mean ceding territory, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said in an interview published on Sunday.