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Main news of October 20

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RUSSIA * The quartet of mediators in the Middle East peace process could meet as early as November in a Mideast country, the Russian foreign minister said *... 20.10.2008, Sputnik International

2008-10-20T18:08+0000

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Main news of October 20

18:08 GMT 20.10.2008

RUSSIA

* The quartet of mediators in the Middle East peace process could meet as early as November in a Mideast country, the Russian foreign minister said

* Russia's foreign minister said on Monday that the country will only lift its objections to a U.S. anti-missile radar in the Czech Republic if Russian observers are permanently posted at the facilities

* Russia's permanent mission to the UN has received a letter from U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain asking for financial support of his election campaign, the mission said in a statement

* The Moscow City Court sentenced on Monday two Russians for spying, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said

* More than 50 combat aircraft will participate in a joint command-and-staff air defense exercise conducted by members of the Commonwealth of Independent States on Thursday, a Russian Air Force spokesman said

* Russia will keep a modernized version of its Su-25 strike aircraft in service with the Air Force until 2020, an aircraft industry official said

* The All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) handed out two-year doping bans to seven Russian women athletes after they were involved in switching their urine samples, the federation's president said

* Russia is worried by tendencies among some political forces in Iran to have Talibs engaged in peace efforts in Afghanistan, a Russian deputy foreign minister said

* Russia supports involving India in the work of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations, its foreign minister said

* Russian peacekeepers from the 15th motorized infantry brigade returned to their home base in south Russia after an almost three-year mission in Abkhazia, the Volga-Urals military district press service said

* Russian players continued to make up half the top 10 in the latest Women Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, although Vera Zvonareva dropped one spot, below Venus Williams of the United States

* There are no political obstacles in the way of the completion of the $1 billion Bushehr nuclear power plant being built by Russia in southern Iran, a Russian deputy foreign minister said

* A trawler carrying around 30 metric tons of crab has been detained in Russia's Far East on suspicion of poaching, a local border guards spokesman said

* Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet will arrive on an official visit to Russia on October 26-29 at the invitation of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin press service said

* Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi will pay his first visit to Russia in more than 20 years in late October, a Russian business daily said on Monday, citing a Foreign Ministry source

* Six people, including a child, have been killed and another nine injured in a car crash in south Siberia's Altai Territory, a spokesman for the local emergencies service said

* Siberia's Chita District Court extended the custody of ex-Yukos executive, Platon Lebedev, until February 2 next year, following a request by prosecutors, the judge said

* Seven cars were set alight overnight in various parts of Moscow in what police believe is part of a continuing wave of arson attacks on vehicles in the city, a police source said

WORLD

* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said on Monday he had postponed early parliamentary elections from December 7 to December 14

* North Korea urged the United States to end its hostile policies and to work to build trust between the countries, in a commentary published in the ruling Workers' Party newspaper

* President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday that Belarus would like to have good relations with the EU, but would not sacrifice its traditional ties to Russia

* North Korean leader Kim Jong-il ordered all long-haired men in the country to get haircuts, after becoming enraged at students' hairdos at a recent soccer match, Japan's Mainichi Daily News reported

* Two German soldiers and five Afghan children were killed on Monday by a suicide bomber in northern Afghanistan, local police said

* A dead crow, which was found in one of Hong Kong's central parks, has tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus, local media said

* Ukraine's prime minister said on Monday she was ready to step down if it will help the country overcome its mounting financial headaches

* Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao will pay an official visit to Moscow on October 27-29, the Russian Foreign Ministry said

* Egypt has invited Palestinian political groups, including Hamas and Fatah, to Cairo on November 9 for reconciliation talks, the Al Ahram newspaper reported

* Talks scheduled for Tuesday between Cambodia and Thailand to address recent clashes near the 11th century Preah Vihear Temple have been postponed on Phnom Penh's request, local media said

* The Iranian Air Force completed on Monday a five-day series of large-scale exercises in the northwest of the country, the IAF press service said in a statement

* Hamas said on Monday that the deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks was due to a lack of constructive proposals by Israel on the release of hostage Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit

* Over 20,000 Georgians displaced by an armed conflict between Tbilisi and Moscow over breakaway South Ossetia have returned to their home villages in buffer zones, the UN refugee agency said

* A Chinese food watchdog said on Monday that the recent nationwide checks of milk products produced before September 14 have found no traces of melamine in baby formula

* The government of Kazakhstan will inject $15 billion in the economy by late 2008 to cope with the effects of the ongoing global financial crisis, the Kazakh prime minister said

BUSINESS

* More than 80 Russian banks received loans worth 383 billion rubles ($14.7 billion) on Monday in the first liquidity auction not to require any security from banks, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said

* The Russian economy is well prepared to deal with shocks on global markets, the prime minister said on Monday at a meeting of the foreign investment council presidium

* Polymetal, Russia's largest silver producer and one of the largest gold producers, said its gold output grew 18% year-on-year in January-September to 211,000 ounces

* Russia's state-controlled retail savings bank Sberbank said on Monday its revenues from transactions with securities had declined 28%, year-on-year, in January-June to 15.1 billion rubles ($575 million)

* Fixed capital investment in Russia grew 13.1%, year-on-year, in January-September 2008 to 836.9 billion rubles ($31.9 bln), the country's top statistics body said

* Russian state-controlled retail savings bank Sberbank said on Monday its net profit calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards increased 39.6%, year-on-year, in January-June to 67 billion rubles ($2.6 billion)