Russia had since long established forces in the region.

In the seven months since Serbian nationalist forces ringed the city with artillery and machine-gun posts, finding ways to escape has become an obsession.

In the six weeks since American forces occupied Baghdad, Shiite religious men have taken charge of organizing services.

That figure is the highest for any week since American forces captured Baghdad on April 9 last year.

Last week, for the first time, President Bush gave an estimate of the number of Iraqis killed since American forces invaded in March 2003.

The thud of artillery marked the arrival near the city of the first foreign army since British forces occupied Iraq in 1941.

Cap at a deeper layer since hydraulic forces typically decrease with decreasing depth.

Chechnya's parliamentary elections on Sunday, the first since Russian forces started a second war in the republic in 1999, proceeded as expected.

Over all, General Peterson emphasized the "tremendous progress" made since American forces designated 2006 as the "year of the police."

For 15 months, since Serbian nationalist forces first surrounded Sarajevo, there have been warnings of disaster if the siege is not lifted.