Russia postpones exercises with U.S.

Citing legal problems, Russia’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday abruptly postponed joint military exercises with U.S. forces that were scheduled to start this month in central Russia. The exercises were drawing increasing criticism from the Communist Party and other groups angry over the prospect of U.S. troops on Russian soil.

“The reason is the lack of a solution to the issue of the status of U.S. personnel who planned to participate in the exercises,” an unidentified ministry official told the Russian news agency Interfax.

The Russian Ministry of Defense declined to explain what the status issues are or how they arose between two countries that have held exercises in Russia before.

The ministry now wants a ratified agreement on the issues that concern it, Interfax reported.

Tension between the two governments has been rising recently. Washington has criticized setbacks to democratic development in Russia and the country’s alleged use of energy as a diplomatic weapon.

London

Blair reportedly to resign next year

Britain’s Tony Blair will step down as prime minister in July after more than 10 years leading his country, a newspaper reported today after two ministers acknowledged he was likely to leave office next year.

Blair intends to resign as leader of the governing Labour party on May 31, 2007 – triggering a leadership election likely to take around eight weeks, the Sun tabloid reported.

He would then be replaced as prime minister on July 26, the newspaper said.

George Pascoe-Watson, political editor of the Sun, told Britain’s Sky News television he would not disclose the sources of his story and said only that the newspaper’s previous predictions on the date of elections had been “absolutely bang on the money.”

Blair’s Downing Street office said it would not comment.

Odense, Denmark

Nine arrested on terror charges

Police raided homes in a largely immigrant suburb before dawn Tuesday, detaining nine men on suspicion of preparing explosives for a terror attack in Denmark, which drew Muslim rage this year over media caricatures of Islam’s founder.

Seven men were later arraigned on preliminary charges of plotting a terror attack, but the other two were released. An Islamic imam, Abu Bashar, said the suspects were Muslims.

Officials in Odense, the country’s third-largest city, did not reveal the planned target and said it was hard to evaluate how far the alleged plot had progressed.

The suspects had acquired material “to build explosives in connection with the preparation of a terror act,” said Lars Findsen, the head of the Danish Security Intelligence Service.