After announcing possible amendments banning Russian officials from owning real estate and other property abroad, the State Duma is planning a ban on public servants marrying foreigners. The author of the bill, United Russia MP Evgeny Fyodorov has told the press that the document includes this restriction. “Wives and underage children of civil servants must also declare their property and cannot... 

Unless Tehran retracts its lawsuit over Moscow’s refusal to deliver S-300 surface-to-air missile systems, Russia will take a tougher stand on the Iranian nuclear issue, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Friday. “We have already made it clear to Iran that lawsuits are not helping the development of our relations,” the newspaper quoted a Russian presidential administration source as... 

Members of the German Special Police Force. German experts have warned that Germany is now a ‘promised land’ for Italian organized crime as four largest Mafia syndicates are operating in the country under perfect conditions. The opposition Social Democrat (SPD) party in the southeast state of Bavaria cautioned against the phenomenon on Friday and called for tougher coordinated police action... 

A Norwegian lawyer criticized the local judicial system that, in her opinion, protects pedophiles. As a result, in many families children are forced to live with parents who subject them to sexual abuse. All attempts to appeal to the court are unsuccessful because the testimony of the children simply is not trusted. Norwegian lawyer Thea Totland shared her fears with a reporter of local newspaper... 

Russia is looking to keep alcohol out of the hands of the youth As Russia searches for ways to improve its demographic situation, a group of senators is taking aim against teenage drinking. On a recent Friday night in the subuirbs of Moscow, Igor Andrianov, 17, is sharing a one-liter bottle of beer with a group of friends on a park bench. Although the legal drinking age in Russia is 18, Andrianov says... 

Jobless Greeks line up outside an unemployment bureau in Athens Unemployment rate in crisis-struck Greece hit an all-time high of 23.1 percent in May as the country struggles through a fifth year in recession, says the national statistics agency. New data, released by Elstat on Thursday, showed that 1.15 million people were out of work in Greece, compared with 3.82 million, who had jobs. The jobless... 

Dmitry Medvedev has told the government to pay more attention to foreign migrants to prevent ethnic enclaves from appearing on Russian soil, as well as excessive expansion of foreigners to the country’s Far East. At the same time, Russia’s prime minister stressed that the officials should not be afraid of international migration, but work harder in order to manage it. “Our key task is to create... 

According to the WHO, in 2010, 107,000 both legal and illegal transplants of human organs were carried out. Two-thirds of all transplanted organs are kidneys. Experts believe that ten percent of all kidney transplants are illegal. The organization Organ Watch provided a different number – from 15 to 20,000 illegal operations a year. At least two illegal human organs transplantation surgeries... 

Kuban Cossacks set to staff proposed ‘anti-immigration patrols’ The governor of one of Russia’s southern regions has been accused of discrimination and nationalism for a proposal to deploy patrols to tackle immigration issues in the Caucasus region. Human rights activists blasted the governor for his statements. ­Governor Aleksandr Tkachev of the Krasnodar region came under fire after a meeting... 

Iskander-M tactical missile Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski has described as “a political mistake” his country’s agreement to let the deployment of US missile system on its territory by 2018. “Our mistake was that while accepting the US proposal, we have not taken into account a political risk related to the change of the US president. We have paid a too high political price for that,”... 

German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere has reaffirmed his opposition to military intervention in Syria, saying diplomacy favors over military action. “The failure of diplomacy must not automatically bring about the onset of the military,” the minister told told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, AFP reported on Sunday. He said Kofi Annan’s... 

A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents... 

McDonald’s restaurants are the very epitome of poor health, with their McNuggets most notably containing chemicals used in breast implants and silly putty, so why have the Olympic games officials adopted the restaurant chain as their official restaurant of the Olympics? Considering the Olympic games represent some of the most conditioned athletes across the globe, it seems quite bizarre that the... 

The Swedish Foreign Minister says Belarus has expelled his country’s ambassador to Minsk “for being too supportive of human rights.” “Outrageous. Shows nature of [President Aleksandr Lukashenko] regime,” Carl Bildt wrote in his twitter micro-blog on Friday. “We have said that the new Belarus ambassador to Sweden is not welcome and have asked two other diplomats to leave,” the minister... 

The major Russian mobile phone operator MTS has slammed Apple for its ‘too’ strict sales policy by not allowing a cut in the device’s $1,000-plus price tag in the country. ­The iPhone’s high cost makes them a hard sell in the Russian market where rival models can be purchased for as little as $120, according to MTS. Apple’s strict requirements on retail locations bring additional costs. “They’re...