Moscow  - Texan space tourist Richard Garriott returned to firm ground Friday in a Russian Soyuz capsule that carried him and two Russian cosmonauts back from space.

The capsule with Richard Garriott, a computer games designer and son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, touched down safely around 0330 GMT at the Baikonour base on the steppes of Kazakhstan. Garriott paid 30 million dollars to follow in his father's footsteps.

Brussels  - The head of the European Union's monitoring mission in Georgia on Friday invited Russian and South Ossetian officials to substantiate their claims that attacks are being perpetrated in the region so that they may be investigated.

"In general, such reports are overblown. There may have been isolated shootings, but no major incident has been registered," Ambassador Hansjorg Haber, head of the EU's monitoring mission (EUMM), said at a press conference in Brussels.

Moscow - A drunk man triggered a hijack alert aboard a domestic flight to Moscow from the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, the news agency Interfax reported.

The agency first cited an unnamed police officer as saying a passenger on board a Boeing 737 owned by Russian low-cost carrier SkyExpress had threatened to detonate a bomb with the cry of Allahu Akbar if the plane was not re-routed to Vienna, Austria.

Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said it sent five ambulances to Moscow's Vnukovo airport before the flight landed.

Soelden, Austria  - The international ski federation FIS has agreed to the hosting of a parallel slalom in Moscow on January 2 with prize money totally 160,000 euros on offer.

According to FIS race director Guenter Hujara, Austria's Hermann Maier, Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway and American Bode Miller have already agreed to take part in the race, which is expected to involve the top 10 slalom skiers.

The race was originally planned for November but had to be moved to January for logistical reasons. A 50-metre-high slope will be erected to host the race.

Moscow - A Russian Soyuz space capsule Friday returned to Earth safely, carrying its crew of Russian cosmonauts and a US space tourist.

The capsule with Richard Garriott, a computer games designer and son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, who paid 30 million dollars to follow in his father's footsteps, landed safely around 0330 GMT in the Kazakh steppe.

"Start and landing went according to plan. Now helicopters and search units are flying to the landing site," Valeri Lyndin a spokesman of the flight control near Moscow, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Moscow - Some 15 people were kidnapped by alleged Islamic militants in Russia's strife-torn North Caucasus region, while at least eight police officers were injured in mine explosions, media reports said Friday.

Masked gunmen abducted up to 15 civilians in the Russian republic Ingushetia, the Interfax news agency reported the republic's Interior Ministry as saying.

In Chechnya, eight police officers were injured when two mines exploded in buildings, the agency said. Both incidents took place late Thursday evening.