* A mayoral candidate was fatally wounded early Thursday in an attack in Russia's Far East, the Primorye Territory electoral commission said
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said:
- The country's insufficient power generating capacity was proving an obstacle to achieving the national task of doubling GDP from the 2002 level by 2012.
- The government should focus not only on natural gas but also on other energy sources when drafting energy development plans
* Sergei Yastrzhembsky, a Russian presidential aide, said:
- Vladimir Putin is prepared to outline Russia's energy sector policy for the coming years to his European Union colleagues
- Russia and the European Union may prolong their agreement on partnership and cooperation in 2007 if they fail to reach a consensus on a new document
- Russia will ratify the European Energy Charter and its additional protocol if the documents are amended in line with Moscow's demands
* The Russian president pledged to prevent attacks against Israel's national security, Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said after meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
* The Chinese Foreign Ministry said:
- China has not confirmed reports of another nuclear test in North Korea
- The Chinese president's envoy met with the North Korean leader in Pyongyang
* Russia's Air Force is capable of objectively monitoring North Korea's airspace, Vladimir Mikhailov, the Air Force commander, said
* Belarus has set up a stabilization fund to deal with a possible hike in the price it pays for Russian natural gas, the head of the country's Central Bank said
* Ministers from the pro-presidential bloc Our Ukraine have tendered their resignations, Roman Bezsmertniy, the leader of the bloc's parliamentary faction, said
* Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said settlement efforts in Sudan must be based on respect for the African state's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and popular will
* Georgia and France have signed a military cooperation plan for 2007, a Georgian deputy defense minister said
* Kamaz [RTS: KMAZ], Russia's leading truck maker, will be privatized by 2008, Mintimer Shaimiyev, the president of the Volga republic of Tatarstan, said
* The export duty on oil could be cut by more than $50 per metric ton as of December 1, said Alexander Sakovich, deputy head of the customs division within the Finance Ministry's taxation and duties department
* Anglo-Russian joint venture TNK-BP and Siberia-based Surgutneftegaz have won tenders for licenses to four deposits in North Siberia, worth about 1.2 billion rubles ($43 million), a local administration official said
* 108 foreign non-governmental organizations operating in Russia managed to re-register with the country's authorities by an October 18 deadline, representing about half of the total, the Justice Ministry said
* Russian rescuers are searching for a missing Spanish mountain climber in the North Caucasus, a rescue service spokesman said
- Fifty-two percent of Russian respondents in a survey conducted by Russia's Public Opinion Fund said North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons poses a threat to national security
* All 15 Uzbek servicemen on board a transport plane have been killed after the plane crashed in the Tashkent region of Uzbekistan, the republic's emergencies ministry said
* A bar in northwest Russia owned by an immigrant from the North Caucasus has been set on fire, an emergency situations department in the republic of Karelia said
* Russian Soyuz 2-1A new generation carrier rocket with European MetOP weather satellite lifted off from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan following three months of delays, Russia's Federal Space Agency
* The U.S. Embassy's military attache has had his car stolen in Moscow, police said
