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Main news of October 15

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RUSSIA * Russia and Iceland have concluded the first round of talks on a 4 billion euro ($5.4 billion) loan to help the Nordic country through its financial... 15.10.2008, Sputnik International

2008-10-15T18:21+0000

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Main news of October 15

18:21 GMT 15.10.2008

RUSSIA

* Russia and Iceland have concluded the first round of talks on a 4 billion euro ($5.4 billion) loan to help the Nordic country through its financial difficulties, the Russian Finance Ministry said

* Russia and the EU should cooperate to bring cyber offenders to justice, the Russian interior minister said

* Russia defeated Finland 3-0 in Moscow on Wednesday evening in a 2010 World Cup qualifying match, with two of the goals coming from the feet of Finnish defenders

* Russia launched its first nationwide state-run lottery on Wednesday, with some of the expected 30 billion rubles ($1.1 billion) revenues over the next five years to go towards the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics

* Russia's crude oil output declined 0.6% year-on-year in January-September to 365 million metric tons (2.7 billion barrels), the country's top statistics body said

* The Russian Aircraft holding and the Indian Hindavia company will soon set up a joint venture to market and sell Il-114-100 airliners in India, the head of the Russian company said

* Russia's industrial output grew at an annual rate of 6.3% in September and 5.4% in January-September, the country's top statistics body said

* All passengers on a plane that flew from Turkey to Russia on Wednesday were kept on board for over an hour for police questioning, after a drunken man claiming to have a bomb caused a terrorist scare

* The prosecutor has asked a court to remand suspects in the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in custody, a Politkovskaya family lawyer said

* Russia and Venezuela may finalize within a month a deal for a large number of BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, a senior executive at Russia's arms export monopoly said

* Zenit St. Petersburg and Bayern Munich have demanded that a Spanish newspaper retract a story suggesting that the sides' UEFA Cup semifinal was fixed, Sovetski-Sport reported on Wednesday

* Russian authorities have completed a preliminary investigation into the case of a gang accused of selling over 130 women into sexual slavery, a top official said

* Lower obligatory reserve requirements for Russian banks, due to come into effect on Wednesday, will unlock 100 billion rubles ($3.8 billion), the Central Bank said

* Members of the Commonwealth of Independent States have agreed to conduct joint air defense exercises in the summer of 2009, the Russian defense minister said

* A plane flying from the Turkish resort of Antalya landed safely in St. Petersburg on Wednesday after a terrorist scare, in which a drunk passenger claimed to have a bomb, local authorities said

* Drug police have seized over 37 kg (82 lbs) of heroin from a Tajik national in Russia's second largest city of St. Petersburg, the local drug police department said

* Russia is sending eight monitors to the November 4 presidential elections in the United States, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said

* Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev will present the first five volumes from a 22-volume collection of his works Thursday at the 60th International Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany, the publishers said

* Russia's lower house of parliament approved legislative amendments on Wednesday allowing any organizations or individuals to fly the national flag, a privilege earlier officially enjoyed only by the state

* Russia expects agreements ensuring security in Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be developed during talks Wednesday in Geneva, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said

* Eight special police officers convicted of attacking a group of teenagers in a cafe in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi were sentenced on Wednesday to between two and five years in prison

* Federal Security Service officers seized over 34 kg (75 lbs) of heroin during a special operation in Orenburg, in Russia's Urals, smuggled into Russia from Tajikistan, an FSB spokesman said

* An East Siberian court on Wednesday suspended for a day its hearing of an appeal filed by Mikhail Khodorkovsky's lawyers over a lower court decision to deny their client parole

* Russian military aircraft and helicopters will conduct joint exercises with the Belarusian Air Force, a Russian Air Force spokesman said

* Russia's Federal Air Navigation Authority is to suspend services to all flights by nine regional air companies from October 17 over unpaid fees, the air traffic regulator said

* Investigators at Russia's General Prosecutor's Office have launched a probe into the death of Alexei Cherepanov, the brightest star of Russian ice hockey, a top investigation committee spokesman said

* Russia's foreign minister is due to arrive in Kazakhstan on Wednesday to meet with the country's president and foreign minister, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said

WORLD

* International talks in Geneva on the recent Russia-Georgia armed conflict were suspended on Wednesday over "procedural difficulties," and will resume on November 18, a European Union diplomat said

* The incumbent Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev, has gained 80.5% of the vote in presidential elections, according to exit polls

* The International Court of Justice obliged Russia and Georgia on Wednesday to adopt temporary measures to protect the rights of the Georgian, South Ossetian and Abkhaz populations

* A Ukrainian opposition party said on Wednesday it had started a fundraising campaign to raise the $8 million ransom demanded by Somali pirates for the release of the MK Faina vessel and its crew

* Lithuania plans to double its contingents participating in international peacekeeping operations after 2009, the Baltic country's defense minister said

* Georgia accused the Russian military on Wednesday of violating Georgian airspace, while Russia's Air Force denied the allegation

* The current global financial crisis is payback for the West's "crimes" and "aggressive" policies, Iran's president said

* Chinese authorities are to carry out blanket checks of all milk products produced before September 14, the Xinhua news agency said

* The world's eight largest industrialized nations will gather for an emergency summit later this year to tackle the current global credit crunch, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said

* A criminal case has been opened against members of the Ukrainian prime minister's bloc over allegations they put pressure on a Kiev court, considering a presidential appeal, to block early elections

* Lebanon and Syria have formally established diplomatic ties for the first time in their modern history, Lebanese media reported

* Argentina is seeking to buy Russian helicopters and send an astronaut into space, the Russian Security Council secretary said during his visit to the Latin American country

* The 52nd London Film Festival opens on Wednesday promising a program filled with 190 movies and more than 100 documentaries, including contributions from a number of Russian film makers

* European Union leaders gather in Brussels on Wednesday for a two-day summit that will focus on the global financial crisis and the bloc's relations with Russia

* The Council of CIS defense ministers will hold its 55th meeting in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, a spokesman for the alliance's executive committee said

BUSINESS

* Inflation in Russia stood at 0.4% in the first two weeks of October, totaling 11% from the start of the year to October 15, the country's top statistics body said

* Greece will allocate 28 billion euros ($38 billion) to help the banking sector steer through the ongoing global financial crisis, Greek Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis said

* Raiffeisenbank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Austria's Raiffeisen International Group and one of Russia's top thirty banks, said on Wednesday its net profit declined 73.94%, quarter-on-quarter, in July-September to 532.27 million rubles ($20.5 million)