A major chapter in biological warfare quietly closed in June with the death of Lev Sandakhchiyev, an extraordinary 70-year-old Russian scientist who until last year had led the former Soviet Union's most terrifying center of viral research.

When Fidel Castro passes from the scene, will he be remembered as he portrays himself -- a selfless revolutionary leader who struggled against imperialism and for the good of his people?

The sanctions may cause problems for the Superjet 100 project. Substantial losses for both sides are more likely than ever before.

There are reforms that cannot go unnoticed. The replacement of social benefits with cash payments at the start of 2005 is one good example. Then there are those much more significant for the future of Russia that attract virtually no public attention. The reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences falls into this category.

It is simply not true that the authorities have failed to react to the wave of crime sweeping through the army. The problem is that the authorities have decided to try to cure a serious chronic illness by treating only the symptoms.

I'm not going to resign, so don't hold your breath,"" State Hermitage Museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky told journalists after 221 pieces had disappeared from the museum's reserve collection.

Hostilities cease Monday, but isolated incidents show violence has not ended.

Guerrillas fire rockets and Israeli soldiers weep. Hezbollah's television station tries to convince viewers that the Middle East's strongest army is far from invincible.

Tamil Tigers killed seven people and injured 17 in an attack on a Pakistani Embassy convoy on Monday, the Sri Lankan military said, just hours after a suspected rebel front threatened to start bombing civilians in the capital.

The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit China in half a century has risen to 255, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua said Monday. About 140 people are still missing.