Moldova

The poverty-racked European nation of Moldova slid into chaos Tuesday as thousands of stone-hurling youths demonstrating against what they said were rigged national elections overran key government buildings. Police were unable to keep protesters from ransacking the building in the capital, Chisinau, that houses the legislature and storming the offices of President Vladimir Voronin. It was unclear whether Voronin was in the building at the time.

Four pro-Western parties that out-polled Moldova's governing Communists in recent elections agreed on a coalition deal to form a new government. The four parties have pledged to bring the former Soviet republic closer to Europe after eight years of Communist Party rule. They say they will reform markets, guarantee media freedom and make the judicial system more independent. "The citizens of Moldova must no longer be afraid. . . . The difference between us and the Communists is major.

The ruling Communists, former allies of Russia now turned toward the West, held an early lead in Sunday's parliamentary election, an exit poll showed. The Communists had 40% of the vote, followed by the centrist Democratic Moldova Bloc with 29% and the center-right Popular Christian Democratic Party with 14%, according to the poll funded by two independent TV stations. Moldova is sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania.

The poverty-racked European nation of Moldova slid into chaos Tuesday as thousands of stone-hurling youths demonstrating against what they said were rigged national elections overran key government buildings. Police were unable to keep protesters from ransacking the building in the capital, Chisinau, that houses the legislature and storming the offices of President Vladimir Voronin. It was unclear whether Voronin was in the building at the time.

Friends kindly sent me the excellent article Kay Mills wrote on Moldova ["Moldova's Going Underground," July 20]. I am well acquainted with the country, having served as U.S. ambassador there from 1995 to 1998 and visited regularly thereafter. Mills' article reflects the Moldova I know. I would recommend it to anyone planning a trip to this corner of Europe. John Todd Stewart Sun Valley, Idaho

The small Soviet republic of Moldova declared its independence Tuesday, hastening the breakup of the Soviet Union. Seven of the 15 Soviet republics have now declared independence. The Moldovan Parliament unanimously proclaimed the small republic of 4.3 million people to be a "sovereign, independent, free and democratic" state, and it instructed the republic's government to begin immediate negotiations for the republic's secession and the withdrawal of Soviet forces.

Internet users who were burned by a scheme that surreptitiously connected their computers to telephone numbers for the country of Moldova will get $2.74 million in refunds for long-distance charges, the Federal Trade Commission said. The FTC said the refunds are part of two settlements it reached with several firms and individuals who used a supposedly free software program to connect more than 38,000 consumers to costly international phone numbers--in effect hijacking their computer modems.

The ethnic Russian minority in the Romanian-speaking republic was forming militia units to protect itself, the independent Russian Information Agency reported. GEORGIA About 1,000 demonstrators demanding the resignation of Georgian President Zviad Gamsakfurdia built barricades around the headquarters of the opposition National Independence Party in Tbilisi to defend it. Counter-demonstrators staged their own rally in front of Georgia's Parliament, according to news reports.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev canceled a planned trip Friday to the troubled southwestern republic of Moldova, where he was hoping to ease ethnic tensions and dissuade separatists, the official Tass news agency said. The one-day trip to Kishinev, announced only Thursday, would have been Gorbachev's first visit to a Soviet republic outside the Russian Federation since a politically uncomfortable stop in Lithuania in January.

The U.S. national soccer team hopes to improve on its 1-1 draw against Moldova last Saturday, as the teams again today at Davidson College. The U.S. (1-2-7) held the lead through much of the first game but Moldova tied it on a penalty kick. Midfielder Claudio Reyna, the U.S.'s youngest player, will get his first start. Tony Meola will be in goal.

Friends kindly sent me the excellent article Kay Mills wrote on Moldova ["Moldova's Going Underground," July 20]. I am well acquainted with the country, having served as U.S. ambassador there from 1995 to 1998 and visited regularly thereafter. Mills' article reflects the Moldova I know. I would recommend it to anyone planning a trip to this corner of Europe. John Todd Stewart Sun Valley, Idaho

Signing a missile-defense deal with its good friend the United States has earned Poland nothing less than the threat of nuclear attack from Russia -- a threat that might not sound so empty these days, given Moscow's bloody battle with Georgia. That conflict has plunged Europe into crisis, sending waves of jitters through Poland and other eastern nations, once-occupied parts of a Soviet empire that some fear Russia may want to reconstruct. Moscow's actions have also succeeded in driving deeper the wedge between Europe's East and West.

Last year, my French friend Claude told me there were wine caves you could drive through in Moldova that had extraordinary wine collections. I like wine. I like travel. I decided to see for myself. Why not? Change is good. Few people, myself included, know much about Moldova, and fewer still have visited here. This former Soviet republic is sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine.

An explosion ripped apart a small bus in a separatist region of Moldova, killing eight people and injuring 46, state media said. The blast in the Trans-Dniester capital, Tiraspol, blew the roof and sides off the bus, the news agency Lenta PNR said. Oleg Beleakov, the separatists' deputy interior minister, was quoted as telling Russian news agency RIA Novosti that a passenger might have been carrying a bomb meant for a commando killing, and it might have exploded accidentally.

The pro-Western president of Moldova won reelection by Parliament on Monday in a vote marking a fresh setback to Russia's policies in post-Soviet states. President Vladimir Voronin's solid victory with 75 votes in Moldova's 101-seat legislature consolidates a shift by the country of 4.4 million people toward closer ties with the European Union and the United States.

Four pro-Western parties that out-polled Moldova's governing Communists in recent elections agreed on a coalition deal to form a new government. The four parties have pledged to bring the former Soviet republic closer to Europe after eight years of Communist Party rule. They say they will reform markets, guarantee media freedom and make the judicial system more independent. "The citizens of Moldova must no longer be afraid. . . . The difference between us and the Communists is major.