When U.S. soldiers found explosives in the house of Aziz Abdel-Wahhab and his elderly wife during a raid in the Iraqi town of Hawija, they proposed swift and direct punishment -- demolishing the building.

Israeli and Palestinian protesters scuffled with riot police on Wednesday as a bulldozer attempted to push ahead with construction of a Jewish neighborhood in an area of Jerusalem claimed by Palestinians.

Who is buried in Columbus' tomb? Italian-born, Spanish-bankrolled, Orient-obsessed and Caribbean-besotted, the navigator celebrated and castigated for bringing European culture to the New World may have traveled as much in death as he did in his wayward search for a westward passage to Asia.

Delta Capital Delta Capital Management, manager of the U.S. Russia Investment Fund, has appointed Igor Kouzine as its senior vice president to assist in the development of DeltaCredit Bank, which is 100 percent owned by the Fund.

Volker Undorf first saw big trouble at the age of 2, when his native Duisburg, a town near Dusseldorf, was decimated by one of the British bombings in World War II and his family fled to the south of Germany.

VTB Eyes $500M Bond MOSCOW (Reuters) -- The country's second-biggest bank, state-controlled Vneshtorgbank, which placed a $300 million Eurobond Monday, plans a new issue for 2004, VTB head Andrei Kostin said. ""We are planning the next borrowing for next year. I hope it will be within the first six months,"" Kostin told reporters, adding that the amount would be between $250 million and $500 million. Alexei Akinshin, the bank's vice president, said the issue would most likely take place after the presidential election in March which President Vladimir Putin is expected to win comfortably. Kostin said VTB wanted next year to allow U.S. investors to buy the paper. On Monday, VTB placed a five-year Eurobond at 339 basis points over U.S. Treasuries. The bond will pay a 6.88 percent coupon. Originally the bank was planning to offer the market $500 million worth of paper.