380 held in Moscow for 'breach of public order'

MOSCOW • Russian security services said yesterday they had detained 380 people in the centre of Moscow for "breach of public order".

It was the latest announcement of a sweep of potential anti-government protesters around last weekend's marking of Unity Day, essentially the successor to Soviet celebrations of the October 1917 coup that brought the Bolsheviks to power.

Last Friday , the FSB security services , the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said on its website that it had arrested all the members of Artpodgotovka, an anti-government movement in the Moscow region, and seized 15 bottles of Molotov cocktail. REUTERS

Egypt detains British woman over painkillers

LONDON • A British woman has been detained by the Egyptian authorities after entering the country with painkillers for her husband's sore back, British media said.

The Guardian reported last Saturday that Ms Laura Plummer, 33, has been held for almost a month on suspicion of drug trafficking after being arrested for carrying 290 tramadol tablets and some naproxen in her suitcase.

According to the paper, Ms Plummer visits her Egyptian husband, who suffers back pain from an accident, several times a year.

Tramadol is legal with a prescription in Britain, but not in Egypt, where it is known to be used as a heroin substitute.

Venezuelan opposition lawmaker seeks refuge

CARACAS/SANTIAGO • Prominent Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara, 31, has sought refuge in the Chilean ambassador's residence in Caracas after the authorities sought to remove his congressional immunity so that he could be tried for instigating violence.

Mr Guevara, who runs the hardline Popular Will party and is also the deputy leader of Congress, entered the residence last Saturday and requested protection, the Chilean government said in a statement.

Critics say socialist President Nicolas Maduro has turned the oil-producing nation into a dictatorship by rigging elections and jailing dissenters.

REUTERS