Jay Close is the Australian-American chef de cuisine at Dzhusto Banya Dush.

BYO is unheard of around these parts, so it is a surprise to see that the recently opened Izyum restaurant offers this opportunity, albeit with a caveat. This Eastern restaurant lets you bring your own alcoholic beverages with the proviso that you spend a minimum of 1,000 rubles per head. This would not be a problem if the restaurant were not so cheap -- it would truly be hard to spend such a sum there.

Semyon Mogilevich was arrested in Moscow on Jan. 23. He is a reported crime boss who enjoys a spot on the most-wanted list in many countries -- much like Osama bin Laden.

Russia is again on a tear. This time, the Kremlin has stuck its finger in the West's eye over the long and painful effort to bring Kosovo to formal independence. Unlike the fracas over a planned U.S. missile defense shield in Europe, this conflict shows no signs of blowing over, and threatens to damage further the rocky relationship between Russia and the West.

Former UN chief Kofi Annan launched formal mediation efforts on Tuesday to end the post-election crisis in Kenya, where the killing of an opposition legislator stoked bloody protests.

The ruling party and opposition nationalists have submitted plans to allow a traditional Turkish style.

Deadly winter storms -- the worst in five decades -- showed no signs of letting up Tuesday in China, where cities were blacked out, transport systems were paralyzed and a bus crash on an icy road killed at least 25 people during the nation's busiest travel season.