1.   Russia complains that one class of Israeli missile could hit its southern republics.

2.   Challenging a key provision of the peace accord for Chechnya, the Kremlin warned Saturday that the southern Russian republic must remain part of Russia.

3.   Chechnya, an oil-producing southern republic that is strategically vital to Russia, has defied Moscow for centuries.

4.   Fighting in the region since last December has destroyed wide swathes of the southern republic and killed or wounded thousands of people.

5.   He predicted that his firing would lead to a resumption of the separatist war in the southern republic.

6.   In Macedonia, fierce fighting cast doubt on prospects of agreement between parties representing the Slav majority and the substantial Albanian minority in the southern Balkan republic.

7.   Indeed, Russian forces stepped up their assault on the breakaway southern republic later Monday.

8.   Maj. Gen. Mikhail Malofeyev vanished on Tuesday, the first day of a renewed Russian ground onslaught on the city in the breakaway southern Russian republic.

9.   Of the thousands of people killed since Russia attacked the rebellious southern republic a year ago, at least a dozen have been journalists, both foreign and Russian.

10.   Russian leaders have said their aim is to prevent Islamic guerrillas from infiltrating Russia and other southern republics that are part of the Russian Federation.