CIS (ex-USSR)

Listen to the shorter BosNewsLife News version story via Vatican Radio:  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Ukrainian Christians continued to pray around the clock in a special prayer tent at the capital Kyiv's  Independence Square where as many as 200,000 people rallied Sunday, December 15, against the government and for European Union integration.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio:  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- As many as half a million Ukrainians have participated in a pro-European Union rally in the capital Kyiv, where many toppled the statue of late Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin and called for the president to step down. Sunday's rally was the biggest demonstration since the pro-freedom Orange Revolution in 2004.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News Report via Vatican Radio:  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV,UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- The foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have condemned the use of what they call "excessive force" against pro-European protesters in Ukraine, amid escalating tensions in the former Soviet nation. Speaking after talks of the NATO military alliance in Brussels, Belgium, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Ukraine's leadership to listen to what he called "the voices of its people".

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio: Listen to Stefan Bos' report:   By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife RIGA, LATVIA (BosNewsLife)-- Officials say at least 51 people are now known to have died in the collapse of a supermarket roof late on Thursday in the Latvian capital, Riga. The Prime Minister has announced three days of mourning amid a police investigation into the worst disaster to hit the small Baltic nation in decades.

By BosNewsLife News Center BUDAPEST/ASTANA (BosNewsLife)-- Christians remained worried Friday, September 20, about an evangelical pastor in Kazakhstan amid reports that he underwent forced psychological treatment and harsh interrogation following his detention in May on "trumped-up charges".

Listen to BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos via Vatican Radio By BosNewsLife News Center VILNIUS/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- EU member state Lithuania has made a formal protest to Russia over supplementary border checks amid growing tensions between Moscow and neighboring states that seek closer ties with the European Union.

Listen to this BosNewsLife report via Vatican Radio: By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Tensions are rising in Moscow after an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed a narrow victory in Sunday's mayoral race, while a leading opposition candidate demanded a second election round for the Russian capital's top job.

Listen to BosNewsLife via Vatican Radio: By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin was re-elected with at least nearly 58 percent of the vote in the first direct mayoral election in a decade, though he faced an opposition challenge

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio: By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Officials say a top regional security official has been shot dead in the troubled Russian republic of Ingushetia in an attack that the local leadership linked to his efforts to end violence.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio:  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KIEV/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Russia has denied it is waging a trade war with Ukraine to keep its former Soviet neighbour from establishing closer political and economic ties with the European Union.