TENS of thousands of casinos and slot-machines across Russia shut down yesterday as sweeping new laws confining gambling to four remote regions came into effect.

Tens of thousands of casinos and slot-machines across Russia shut down today as sweeping new laws confining gambling to four remote regions came into effect.

Moscow police have violently dispersed a gay pride parade banned by the authorities.

An American mother and daughter rushed to hospital in Moscow for suspected thallium poisoning arrived home today as colleagues and relatives struggled to understand how they could have been exposed to the potentially fatal chemical.

In a chilling part of an escalating campaign against Georgia, Moscow police have asked schools to provide lists of schoolchildren with Georgian surnames in a bid to root out illegal migrants, a municipal official said today.

THE family of Liam Lawlor were last night finalising arrangements for the return of his body following the fatal car crash in Moscow early on Saturday morning.

THE widow of Liam Lawlor was last night considering apologies from two senior executives of the newspaper that published the most prominent false account of her husband’s death amid public furore at reports he died in the company of a teenage prostitute.

The family of former Fianna Fáil TD Liam Lawlor, who was killed in a car crash in Moscow, today hit out at claims he may have been with a prostitute at the time of his death.

Moscow police have arrested two Chechen men suspected of taking part in the murder of American journalist Paul Klebnikov, the city’s police chief said today.

Russian security officials said today that police stopped a man driving a car wired with land mines and explosives in central Moscow.

Rescue workers with sniffer dogs picked through the ruins of an indoor water park searching for survivors in Moscow today after a roof collapsed on hundreds of bathers yesterday, killing over two dozen people.

At least 15 people were killed today when explosions that police blamed initially on terrorists roared through the area around a rock festival on Moscow’s outskirts, news reports said.

At least 10 people were killed when two female suicide bombers attacked a rock festival in the outskirts of Moscow today, Russian news reports said.

They may be the first Russian pop sensation to top music charts worldwide, but that failed to impress Moscow police today.

Moscow police have arrested a suspected Chechen rebel caught with a large amount of poisonous mercury, local reports said today.

There are reports of a loud blast near a theatre in Moscow where an audience is being held hostage by Chechan rebels.

The governor of Russia's Far Eastern region of Magadan has been shot on a busy Moscow street.

Irish fans are reported to have received injuries in Moscow this afternoon as Ireland start their Euro 2004 campaign.

Russian security forces today seized a man who claimed he was armed with explosives and threatened to blow up his truck in front of the former KGB headquarters in Moscow.

A Moscow policeman who was knocked down by a Rottweiler shot and wounded the dog and killed the owner.

Moscow police were ordered on high alert today after Russian skinheads went on a racist rampage in a market, killing two people.

Moscow police have arrested a suspected contract killer who is alleged to have advertised his services on the internet.