Britain is being urged to confront Russia over its human rights record today when it chairs a high-level conference on the future of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

A prominent Russian journalist has become the latest reporter from Novaya Gazeta newspaper to be attacked. She was beaten late last night by unknown assailants in the Moscow suburb where she lives.

A former policeman arrested over the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya has claimed that London-based anti-Kremlin exiles were behind her murder, according to a Russian newspaper report yesterday.

Actress under pressure to reveal what happened to payment for singing at warlord's birthday

In these straitened times a new full-length classical ballet is a rarity, so the Opera National de Paris deserves praise for breathing new life into a forgotten hit from the 19th-century. With music by Delibes and Minkus, and costumes by Christian Lacroix, La Source – the spring – is a version of the Rusalka legend set in what is now Chechnya. When it premiered in 1866, its exotic locale was part of its appeal.

The passer-by who tried to trip a fleeing youth moments after a man was stabbed at the Notting Hill Carnival has revealed he fears his bravery may cost him his disability allowance.

Russia's top investigative body says eight people including seven policeman have died after suicide bombings in the capital of Chechnya.

Eight people, seven of them police, were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Chechnya's capital Grozny yesterday during celebrations at the end of the Muslim festival of Ramadan.

Ruud Gullit said his five-month stay at Chechen club Terek Grozny was so absurd he found it funny. The Dutch coach was sacked on Tuesday after poor results left Terek close to the bottom of the Russian Premier League.

The bizarre sojourn of Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit in Chechnya ended last night, as he was unceremoniously sacked as manager of the region's leading football team, Terek Grozny.

Chechnya's Kremlin-backed strongman said he fired Terek Grozny coach Ruud Gullit today after the team lost a match billed as his last chance to prove he cared more for their poor league postion than bars.

A former Russian army colonel convicted of the torture and murder of an 18-year-old Chechen girl was given a hero's burial yesterday, after he was shot dead by unknown attackers in Moscow last week.

A former Russian army colonel who served a jail term for murdering a Chechen girl in 2000 was shot dead in Moscow yesterday.