MOSCOW DEMANDS APOLOGY OVER MELEE INVOLVING DIPLOMATS.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry demanded an apology from the U.S. on December 31 following an altercation two days earlier in which a Russian diplomat was allegedly forced out of his car by New York police and beaten. Russian authorities in Moscow claimed that Boris Obnosov, first secretary of Russia’s permanent representation at the UN, had suffered a broken arm in the incident. But New York police told a different story. They said that Obnosov and his companion, a senior Belarusan representative to the UN named Yuri Orange, had verbally abused police officers who were in the act of ticketing the diplomats’ car. According to the police, Obnosov had appeared drunk and Orange had punched one of the officers. The two were arrested and later released when it was confirmed that they had diplomatic immunity, police said. (AP, December 31)

Sixteen Presidential Hopefuls in Chechnya.