Russia’s state-controlled OAO Gazprom natural gas monopoly today accused Ukraine of diverting about $25m (€21m) worth of Russian gas intended for customers in other European countries, Russian news agencies reported.

The top prosecutor in the Russian republic of Chechnya said today that a criminal investigation has been opened into the improper storage of radioactive materials by a state-owned company in the capital, Grozny.

Turkey has asked the US to extradite two Turkish Islamic militants who were reportedly captured in Iraq on suspicion of involvement in the 2003 Istanbul suicide bombings that killed some 60 people.

A strong earthquake shook eastern Turkey today, damaging buildings and injuring five people, two days after another quake in the region.

A fire in a nine-storey apartment building in eastern Moscow killed seven people including two children who died in their apartments and two men who tried in vain to save themselves by jumping out of windows.

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.

Four explosions rocked Istanbul today and some reports said the British Consulate in the city was severely damaged.

Explosions rocked central Istanbul today, not far from the city’s largest synagogue, killing 11 people and injuring several others, CNN-Turk television said.

SEARCH crews blasted through solid rock to rescue 11 of 13 coal miners who emerged covered in soot yesterday after six days trapped in a deep shaft in southern Russia.

Grieving relatives, friends and officials held a funeral today for the 22 children killed when their wooden Siberian schoolhouse burned down in one of two deadly fires at schools in Russia last week. They were buried in a common grave.

Two women were killed and nine people were injured today when a hand grenade exploded inside a cafe at a Moscow medical academy dormitory during a party, news reports and police said.

SUSPECTED Chechen rebel suicide bombers rammed vehicles packed with a ton of explosives into the local government headquarters in Grozny yesterday, gutting the building and killing at least 46 people.