Topic: Robert Simmons

Two men face charges they stole a Connecticut power company transformer that leaked a toxic chemical, forcing a hazardous materials crew to clean up the mess.

The August military confrontation between Georgia and Russia has highlighted the vulnerability of the West's prize project to bring Caspian oil westward, the $3.6 billion, 1,092-mile Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. On Aug. 5, BTC exports were halted by a mysterious explosion, temporarily halting Azeri oil exports. Despite the pipeline's vulnerability, Kazakhstan has now decided to use the BTC to transport limited amounts of crude from its Tengiz field westward.

Russia could play an important part in assisting the NATO mission in Afghanistan, the special NATO representative to the South Caucasus said Saturday.

Awash in oil revenues, the Kazakh government is now to spend some of its lucre on a pressing defense need that its military planners have overlooked since independence in 1991 -- a navy.

Russia remains the EU’s largest energy supplier

As Washington, Baghdad and Ankara intensively seek a last-minute diplomatic solution to Turkey's intention to invade Iraqi Kurdistan to deal a decisive blow to Kurdistan Workers Party guerrillas, the ominous consequences of an invasion are becoming clearer.