TBILISI - Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's party yesterday rejected calls for him to resign following the stunning opposition election victory. The victory of the Georgian Dream coalition of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili in parliamentary polls will give Georgia a new government and may cool tensions with its top foe Russia, which cautiously welcomed the result. But the opposition leader has already called on the president to resign immediately, a demand that Saakashvili's party warned could cause confrontation. AFP
NEW YORK - The United States announced criminal charges against 11 members of an alleged ring illegally exporting US$50 million worth of hi-tech military electronics to Russia under the guise of civilian deals. The alleged scheme ran between 2008 and the present, with defendants posing as civilian manufacturers via a Texas-based company called Arc Electronics. In reality, prosecutors said, the defendants were procuring high-tech products on behalf of the Russian military. AFP