CIS (ex-USSR)

By BosNewsLife News Center ZAPORIZHIA/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- An elderly human rights activist who was forced to spend more than two weeks in a Ukrainian psychological hospital for "socially dangerous behavior" said Wednesday, August 14, she remains confined to her home amid fears of more persecution.

By BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- The ruling body of the Russian Orthodox Church on Saturday, December 6, elected Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad as the interim leader of the country's main denomination following the death on Friday, December 5, of Patriarch Alexy II, the patriarchate said.

BosNewsLifeRadioJournalist Listen here to the BosNewsLife Radio News report via Vatican Radio By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International correspondent MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Tributes are paid Sunday, October 7, to Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya who was killed exactly six years ago by a still unknown gunman in an attack that critics have linked to her journalistic work.

Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV/MOSCOW (BosNewsLife)-- The European Union and Ukraine have signed a landmark agreement on forging closer political and economic ties, in a show of support following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. The accord was signed while, in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin formally absorbed Crimea into Russia.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News  report via Vatican Radio:  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent  BosNewsLife TBILISI, GEORGIA (BosNewsLife)-- Georgia's parliament has approved a billionaire as the former Soviet nation's new prime minister and endorsed his government, following the recent October 1 parliamentary elections. Bidzina Ivanishvili began his first official full working day Friday, October 26, after lawmakers voted 88-54 for his cabinet.

Listen to this BosNewsLife via Vatican Radio:   By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)--Russian President Vladimir Putin has received parliamentary approval for military action in neighboring Ukraine, where thousands of Russian forces have landed on the Crimean Peninsula. It comes amid tensions elsewhere including in Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv where dozens were injured when a pro-Russian protest turned violent, with demonstrators trying to storm the local government building.

By BosNewsLife News Center with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos CHELYABINSK/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Christian missionaries and a pastor in Russia's Ural Mountains appealed for prayers late Friday, February 15, after a meteor with the power of an atomic bomb exploded over the region injuring more than 1,000 people.

By BosNewsLife News Center MEXICO CITY/MOSCOW (BosNewsLife)-- Christian Maya looked on in wonder Friday, December 21, at the invasion of foreign tourists to ancient cities in southern Mexico and Central America where they expected the world to end based on ancient Maya predictions.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife reporting from Ásotthalom ÁSOTTHALOM, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- More than 60,000 refugees arrived in Hungary this year, mostly through the unprotected border with Serbia. Overwhelmed by the mass influx of migrants, Hungarian authorities said they want to install a four-meter fence along this stretch of border to keep the migrants out. A recent poll indicates most Hungarians support the fence.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Bos NewsLife KIEV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- A ceasefire called by President Petro Poroshenko has begun in eastern Ukraine as part of efforts to revive a much-violated truce with pro-Russian separatists, but it remained unclear whether a peace meeting would go ahead as planned on Tuesday.