More than two years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a thicket of new rules governing the granting of visas to foreigners is dissuading thousands of people from coming to the United States and generating protests from research universities, medical institutions, multinational corporations and the travel industry.

A bomb blast Wednesday killed at least 20 people -- 12 Italians and eight Iraqis -- hospital officials said. The attacks targeted the headquarters of the Italian military police in the Iraqi town of Nasiriyah.

The hot topic among opposition politicians and activists the last few weeks has been the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Who is this guy? A victim of property redistribution? A champion of democratic freedoms? Or a front for ""comprador capital,"" squeezed out by a nationalist administration?

President Vladimir Putin's latest campaign of persecution against a perceived political opponent, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has demonstrated that neither democracy nor capitalism has taken hold in Russia.

Arbitrary power versus illegitimate wealth: That is the essence of the conflict between President Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, estwhile chairman of Yukos.

For the past few weeks nearly half of Russia's regional leaders have found themselves in a rather interesting position. Although officially ""on vacation"" as they tend to their own re-election or the United Russia party's parliamentary campaign, they remain ""at their posts"" when it comes to pressing business or direct orders from the president.