Mogilev

Two opponents of Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko returned home in triumph to Minsk Sunday after winning early release from jail in what supporters hailed as the result of EU pressure on his regime.

American Sanya Richards-Ross made her 27th birthday special in more ways than one by winning the women's 400 metre title at the US Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Belarus on Monday jailed several among the almost 400 protesters arrested in a brutal police crackdown on Independence Day protests against strongman President Alexander Lukashenko's regime.

Belarus on Monday opened the first trials of the almost 300 people arrested in a massive nationwide crackdown on Independence Day protests against the regime of strongman President Alexander Lukashenko.

Nastassia Astrasheuskaya joined Reuters as a correspondent in December 2010. She was born on Aug. 31, 1989, in the Belarussian city of Mogilev, three years after the nuclear disaster at the Ukrainian Chernobyl, 500 km (320 miles) away.

A new gas standoff that could worry Europe loomed Friday between Russia and an ex-Soviet state after Russian gas giant Gazprom moved closer to cutting exports supplies to Belarus.

A new gas standoff that could worry Europe loomed Friday between Russia and an ex-Soviet state after Russian gas giant Gazprom moved closer to cutting exports supplies to Belarus.