New rule may curb foreign groups

MOSCOW -- Dozens of foreign non governmental organizations in Russia, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, faced suspension yesterday after failing to obtain permits required under a tough new law. The law allows authorities to ban financing of specific NGOs if they are judged to threaten the country's national security or ``morals" and to require organizations to report in detail how much money they have received and from whom. Critics have accused the Kremlin of passing the law in an effort to stem dissent . (AP)

United States

NEW YORK -- More than 10 million people are at risk for lung infection, cancer, and shortened life expectancy because they live in the 10 worst-polluted cities in the world, according to a report issued yesterday by the Blacksmith Institute, an international environmental research group . Three Russian cities are among the most polluted: Dzherzhinsk, Norilsk, and Rudnaya Pristan. The other s are Linfen, China; Haina, Dominican Republic; Ranipet, India; Mayluu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan; La Oroya, Peru; Chernobyl, Ukraine; and Kabwe, Zambia. (AP)

United Nations

Latin American countries could not break a deadlock yesterday over competing Venezuelan and Guatemalan bids for a UN Security Council seat, a failure that highlighted the regional divisions that make compromise difficult. Neither country appears to have much chance of mustering the necessary two-thirds majority in the 192-nation General Assembly to win the seat. The region's 32 nations are so split in allegiances that no diplomats are talking compromise for now. (AP)