Ukraine

(Newser) - President Bush has announced his intention to end "tyranny in our world," but promoting democracy is proving as unpopular among Republicans as Democrats. His plans have met internal opposition, even from Dick Cheney, but a more formidable roadblock is the plan's close association with the unpopular chief executive,...

(Newser) - Leonid Stadnik knows how the weather is up there. The 8-foot-5 Ukrainian was declared the planet's tallest man by Guinness World Records yesterday, the AP reports, displacing a 7-9 Mongolian. Stadnik is 6 inches short of the all-time mark, held by an American.

(Newser) - In a Soviet Era throwback, a new Russian youth group is said to be providing more than fun and games in its summer camp, the Weekly Standard reports. Nashi, Russian for “Ours,” is said to be an elite indoctrination program; while Russian officials liken it to the Boy...

(Newser) - A freight train derailed in western Ukraine, releasing a toxic cloud of yellow phosphorus and igniting fears of another Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the AP reports. Twenty people were poisoned and hospitalized, and more than 800 were evacuated from their homes. Rescuers had to extinguish a fire that created a gas...