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ORDZHONIKIDZEVSKAYA - Chechen refugees flocked around Angelina Jolie as she visited a tent camp Friday, but many were frustrated in their attempts to tell the Hollywood star about their plight. Jolie, who is in Russia as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, spent about 40 minutes at the Bella camp near the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya in Ingushetia, a region that borders Chechnya. Later she was expected to visit a second camp. Though most of the refugees did not get a chance to talk to wholesale pearl jewelry the actress, many said they were grateful for the attention. "At last someone has paid attention to us," said a weeping Aina Khasakhanova, 49. "I am crying out of happiness." The visit came as Russian authorities are preparing to close the camps in an effort to show that peace has returned to Chechnya. Officials claim that refugees are voluntarily returning to Chechnya, but many people say they are being pressured to return against their will. This month, Chechen Prime Minster Anatoly Popov was quoted as saying the camps would be closed by Oct. 1. Many people in the crowd shouted slogans against Akhmad Kadyrov, the Moscow-appointed leader of Chechnya, blaming him for the closing of the camps. Jolie, who was led into two tents, declined to speak to the media, and a tight ring of guards from Russia's Federal Security Service and riot police prevented many camp residents from getting near her. It was not clear who was chosen to speak to the American star. Malika Sagaipova, 29, who has lived in the camp since 1999, said the refugees had delegated five women to speak to pearl earrings Jolie but they did not get the chance. "We wanted to tell her that the military and Kadyrov's people are moving us out of here. We know that Angelina cannot stop the war in Chechnya, but maybe she will help us stay here," Sagaipova said. Zulai Dadasheva, 43, said Jolie's visit made the refugees "feel like people." "We are also people, not terrorists and killers," she said. On Thursday, Jolie discussed the Chechen refugee situation with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov in | ||
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ORDZHONIKIDZEVSKAYA - Chechen refugees flocked around Angelina Jolie as she visited a tent camp Friday, but many were frustrated in their attempts to tell the Hollywood star about their plight. Jolie, who is in Russia as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, spent about 40 minutes at the Bella camp near the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya in Ingushetia, a region that borders Chechnya. Later she was expected to visit a second camp. Though most of the refugees did not get a chance to talk to wholesale pearl jewelry the actress, many said they were grateful for the attention. "At last someone has paid attention to us," said a weeping Aina Khasakhanova, 49. "I am crying out of happiness." The visit came as Russian authorities are preparing to close the camps in an effort to show that peace has returned to Chechnya. Officials claim that refugees are voluntarily returning to Chechnya, but many people say they are being pressured to return against their will. This month, Chechen Prime Minster Anatoly Popov was quoted as saying the camps would be closed by Oct. 1. Many people in the crowd shouted slogans against Akhmad Kadyrov, the Moscow-appointed leader of Chechnya, blaming him for the closing of the camps. Jolie, who was led into two tents, declined to speak to the media, and a tight ring of guards from Russia's Federal Security Service and riot police prevented many camp residents from getting near her. It was not clear who was chosen to speak to the American star. Malika Sagaipova, 29, who has lived in the camp since 1999, said the refugees had delegated five women to speak to pearl earrings Jolie but they did not get the chance. "We wanted to tell her that the military and Kadyrov's people are moving us out of here. We know that Angelina cannot stop the war in Chechnya, but maybe she will help us stay here," Sagaipova said. Zulai Dadasheva, 43, said Jolie's visit made the refugees "feel like people." "We are also people, not terrorists and killers," she said. On Thursday, Jolie discussed the Chechen refugee situation with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov in Moscow. UGG Boots All On Sale | ||
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MOSCOW - Anti-terrorism legislation passed by Russia's upper house of parliament this week threatens to unravel Russia's fragile democracy if it is signed into law, liberal lawmakers and free speech advocates said Thursday. They said the amendments to the law on fighting terrorism and the media law, which would limit coverage of anti-terrorism operations and prohibit media from carrying rebel statements, are a litmus test for President Vladimir Putin's commitment to civil society. "This is a moment of truth for the president. He must decide which side he's on - either freshwater pearl he is on the side of civil society, the free press and democratic freedoms, or he is on the side of incompetent bureaucrats," said lawmaker Sergei Mitrokhin of the Yabloko party. The amendments would prohibit the media from distributing information that hinders counter-terrorist operations, reveals tactics used in such operations or reveals information about people involved in them. They would also ban the publication or broadcast of "statements by individuals that are aimed at hindering a counter-terrorist operation and/or justifying resistance to a counter-terrorist operation" and other "propaganda or justification of extremist activity." Mitrokhin and leaders of the Russian Union of Journalists said the amendments were so broad that they could be used by authorities to shut down any media outlet that irks them. Russia's non-state media already face frequent harassment, including criminal investigations and searches, assaults against journalists and even apparent contract killings. The Union of Journalists said Thursday that blister pearl two regional newspapers, Zvezda in the Ural Mountains city of Perm and Guberniya in Petrozavodsk in the northern Karelia region, were recently prevented from appearing after the Federal Security Service, or FSB, searched their offices and seized their servers. Earlier this month, the FSB seized the server of the muckraking weekly Versiya in Moscow and called its editor in for questioning. The legislation approved by the upper house Wednesday had been submitted to the lower house before last month's hostage crisis at a Moscow theater, but those events provoked further debate about the media's role. Officials criticized the media for airing telephone interviews with hostages and hostage-takers and for showing the comings and goings of top officials in live broadcasts from outside the theater. One television station was shut down briefly for publicizing possible escape routes for the attackers. Igor Yakovenko, general secretary of the Union of Journalists, said the legislation would effectively annul the 12-year-old law on the media, which outlines the basic rights of journalists. He said that law was a "cornerstone of the country we live in today" - since it preceded the country's 1993 constitution and enshrined freedom of the press. Meanwhile, Russia appeared to akoya pearl necklace be pressuring foreign journalists as well. German public television ARD received a letter from the Russian Embassy in Berlin that accused the station of biased coverage of the hostage crisis, saying it sided with the attackers, who were demanding an end to the war in Chechnya, ARD's Moscow bureau chief Albrecht Reinhardt said Thursday. "It will depend on your further reporting whether the Russian side can cooperate with ARD and its correspondents in Moscow in the same way as before," Reinhardt quoted the letter as saying. | ||
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Dubai - A Russian airlines plane carrying 307 passengers and 15 crewmembers crash-landed here after its engines caught fire, but no casualties were reported. The Aeroflot flight AFL 521 from Moscow was landing at Dubai when round pearl the aircraft's engine caught fire. It reportedly belly-landed late Friday evening. "The engine of the aircraft caught fire upon landing for reasons which are under investigation at the moment. Dubai airport's fire services reacted immediately and the fire was put out within seconds," Emirates' official news agency said. The airport's runways were closed subsequently and all flights were diverted to neighbouring areas. Reports said 14 flights were diverted to rope pearl necklace Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Muscat. Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of Dubai Civil Aviation and chairman of Emirates airline, said: "Dubai International Airport emergency personnel acted promptly, and all passengers and crew are safe. We are now working hard to open the airport." | ||
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MOSCOW - Visiting Afghan Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim on Wednesday toured a Russian airfield where the latest models of combat planes are being developed. Fahim's delegation visited the Gromov Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky, outside of Moscow, said Andrei Kuznetsov, spokesman for the Defense Ministry. They were briefed on warplanes being developed by Russia's MiG aircraft corporation, according to the Interfax-Military News Agency. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who met with Fahim earlier this week, said Russia was prepared to bolster Afghanistan's military capability by providing technical help and spare parts for its Soviet-built weapons. He said Russia was also ready to pearl necklace wholesale supply training aircraft for Afghan military pilots and transport helicopters. Following the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Kremlin was a key arms supplier for the anti-Taliban forces in the late 1990s. Last year, Moscow supplied an estimated dlrs 34 million worth of Soviet-era weapons to the Afghan forces fighting the Taliban. Fahim, on a seven-day trip to Russia, has said repeatedly that he isn't looking for more weapons. However, he has said he would welcome assistance in building a national army that could fairly represent all Afghans and ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a training ground for terrorists. An ethnic Tajik, Fahim was a close ally of the late Northern Alliance military leader Ahmed Shah Massood. He was chosen to replace Massood after his assassination in September. Afghan Interior Minister Younus Qanooni was due to pearl jewelry wholesale arrive in Moscow on Friday, the 13th anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. But his visit has been postponed until late February, the Interfax news agency reported. Interfax also said that Afghanistan's foreign minister, Abdullah, would visit Moscow before interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai's visit, which is tentatively scheduled for early March. | ||
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