Three tourists from Moscow shot dead in Kabardino-Balkaria.

NALCHIK, February 19 (Itar-Tass) -- Three tourists from Moscow, two
men and one woman, have been shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Baksan
district of Russia's Caucasian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, a source in
the republican administration of the Russian Investigation Committee told
Itar-Tass on Friday.
At about 18:55 Moscow time on Friday, a group of gunmen stopped a car
with five tourists from Moscow and opened fire at them, killing three.
Then they fled the scene in a car with no plate numbers. Investigation is
underway. Criminal proceedings were initiated on charges of murder of two
or more people and on illegal possession of arms.

.Armenian opposition calls for early presidential and parliamentary
vote.

YEREVAN, February 19 (Itar-Tass) -- A radical opposition rally on
Friday called for early presidential and parliamentary elections in
Armenia.
The rally was organized by the Armenian National Congress, an
association of those who support Armenia's first President Levon
Ter-Petrosyan.
"The only way to avoid negative development of the situation is to
hold early presidential and parliamentary elections," Ter-Petrosyan said
addressing the rally. "Such elections are more than a mere political need,
they have grown to be a problem of the nation's and the state's existence."
"The current situation in Armenia is characterised by manifestations
of social protest and civic engagement," he said.
According to police, some 5,000 to 6,000 people took part in the
rally. No disturbances were reported.

.Medvedev to discuss unemployment problems with Russian parties
leaders.

SOCHI, February 19 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
will meet with the leaders of Russia's parliamentary parties here on
Saturday to discuss the problem of unemployment in Russia.
The subject was raised by the Russian president more than once in the
past few weeks. Moreover, the president has pledged to keep a close eye on
the problem. "Over the recent years, we have managed to decrease the
number of the unemployed and to bring the employment dynamics to what it
used to be before the recession, but, still, a great number of people have
no jobs. And the main thing - to learn how to control these processes," he
said.
Among those who will meet with the president, who is currently on a
working trip to Russia's southern Krasnodar territory, are the leader of
the ruling United Russia party, Boris Gryzlov, communist leader Gannady
Zyuganov, Liberal Democrat leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and the leader of
the Fair Russia party, Sergei Mironov.
The Russian president meets with leaders of the parliamentary factions
once every three or four months. Such meeting have no strict agenda but
focus on the most pressing problems of the moment. The last such meeting,
held on November 24, 2010, centered round problems of the housing and
utilities sector.
Currently, there are seven political parties in Russia, four of which
have seats in the lower house of the parliament: United Russia (its
chairman is Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and head of the Supreme Council
- Boris Gryzlov), Communist party (led by Gennady Zyuganov), Liberal
Democratic Party (led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky), and Fair Russia (led by
Sergei Mironov). Three parties have no seats in the national parliament
but are represented in regional legislatures. These three are: the Yabloko
party, the Right Course, and Patriots of Russia parties.
According to the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development, as
of the beginning of 2011, there were 5.4 million jobless in Russia. The
unemployment rate went down from 8.2 percent to 7.2 percent as of the year
beginning.
Last December, the biggest number of the unemployed was registered in
the North Caucasian republics of Ingushetia (48.8 percent) and Chechnya
(43.3 percent), as well as in the republic of Tyva (18.6 percent). The
lowest unemployment rate was in Moscow (1.1 percent), St. Petersburg (2.2
percent), the Moscow region (3.3 percent), the Samara region (4.1
percent), and the Lipetsk region (4.6 percent).
In 2010, the number of those registered with employment service went
down from 2.1 million to 1.6 million.

.US delegation vetoes UN resolution on Israeli settlements in West
Bank.

UNITED NATIONS, February 19 (Itar-Tass) -- The U.S. delegation has
vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli
settlements the West Bank, while all the rest delegations voted for the
resolution.
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