Moscow - Russia's state railway RZD announced Friday that it has sent one-fifth of its workforce, 250,000 workers, on unpaid leave due the ongoing worldwide economic crisis. Quoted by the Interfax news agency, the 100-per-cent state-owned company reported a loss of nearly 50 billion roubles (1.5 billion dollars), its first major loss in years.
A year's end the Russian railway reported a debt burden of 7.2 billion euros.
Moscow- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Friday in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin requested greater investment by Russian firms in Iraq. According to the Interfax news agency, Putin agreed to help in the building of a "strong and independent Iraq."
In the first visit by an Iraqi prime minister to Moscow since the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein dictatorship, al-Maliki is also expected to visit Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Tbilisi/Moscow - Georgian President Miheil Saakashvili on Friday refused to quit, despite around 100,000 protestors nationwide demanding he leave his job. "The government is ready for a dialogue with all political powers, moderate or radical," Saakashvili said in a national television address.
Moscow, April 9 : A team at archaeologists, working at Egypt's Fayoum Oasis, have uncovered a number of mummies wearing golden masks, as well as other artifacts of historical value.
According to Russian News Agency RIA Novosti, a group of Russian archaeologists working in the Fayoum province, some 80km southwest of Cairo, since 2003, have made the findings.
The team has been carrying out excavations at the Deir Al-Banat necropolis for the past two years.
Baghdad - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Thursday left Baghdad for Moscow at the beginning of a tour of European countries that Baghdad hopes will drum up investment in Iraq.
Al-Maliki hopes to sign two agreements on economic cooperation between Iraq and Russia over the course of his three-day visit to the country, according to a government statement run in Baghdad's al- Sabbah newspaper Thursday morning.
He is also expected to discuss the return to Iraq of Russian companies, particularly those working in petroleum, water, and electric infrastructure, the newspaper said.
Moscow - Two astronauts from the United States and Russia and a space tourist left the International Space Station (ISS) Wednesday morning onboard a Soyuz space capsule to return to Earth.
The flight centre near Moscow reported that Soyuz undocked from ISS Wednesday morning and is expected to land in the Kazakhstan steppe around 0716 GMT, the Interfax news agency said.
On board are Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov, US astronaut Micheael Fincke as well as Charles Simonyi, a space tourist also from the US.
Moscow - Russia's state railway RZD announced Friday that it has sent one-fifth of its workforce, 250,000 workers, on unpaid leave due the ongoing worldwide economic crisis. Quoted by the Interfax news agency, the 100-per-cent state-owned company reported a loss of nearly 50 billion roubles (1.5 billion dollars), its first major loss in years.
Moscow- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Friday in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin requested greater investment by Russian firms in Iraq. According to the Interfax news agency, Putin agreed to help in the building of a "strong and independent Iraq."
Tbilisi/Moscow - Georgian President Miheil Saakashvili on Friday refused to quit, despite around 100,000 protestors nationwide demanding he leave his job. "The government is ready for a dialogue with all political powers, moderate or radical," Saakashvili said in a national television address.
Moscow, April 9 : A team at archaeologists, working at Egypt's Fayoum Oasis, have uncovered a number of mummies wearing golden masks, as well as other artifacts of historical value.
Baghdad - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Thursday left Baghdad for Moscow at the beginning of a tour of European countries that Baghdad hopes will drum up investment in Iraq.
Moscow - Two astronauts from the United States and Russia and a space tourist left the International Space Station (ISS) Wednesday morning onboard a Soyuz space capsule to return to Earth.
