* Work to repair the Siberian hydropower plant where at least 69 people died in an accident last week has begun, said Sergei Shaposhnikov, the director of the Civil Defense Department of the Emergency Situations Ministry
* The Arctic Sea merchant vessel, recently freed from hijackers by a Russian missile frigate, is being towed by a tugboat to the south Russian port of Novorossiisk, a port official said
WORLD
* India's defense industry handed over to the army the first ten T-90 Bhishma main battle tanks assembled under a Russian license at a domestic plant, Indian media reported
* The Miss Universe 2009 crown has been won by Miss Venezuela, the country's second victory in a row
BUSINESS
* Contracts totaling $10 billion dollars were signed during the MAKS-2009 air show outside Moscow, setting a record for Russia's most important biennial aerospace exhibition
