Main news of September 8

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WORLD

* The absence of a Russian ambassador in Kiev means that bilateral relations have been frozen, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko was quoted as saying in an interview with a Polish paper

* Washington may consider bilateral talks with N. Korea in the future, but not as a substitute for six-party talks on the country's nuclear disarmament, the U.S. special envoy on North Korea said

* Moscow's refusal to amend gas contracts with Ukraine is putting transits to Europe under threat, the Ukrainian president's energy security adviser was quoted by the presidential press service as saying

* The son of Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi has denied media reports that the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing is on his deathbed, a London-based Arab newspaper said

* Lithuania is in talks with the United States over accepting some prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, a Lithuanian newspaper reported, citing the country's foreign minister

* Ten people were killed and three others injured in a Mi-8 military helicopter crash in south Kazakhstan, a local emergencies spokesman said

* A Georgian appeals court released the jailed captain of a Turkish tanker, and passed a more lenient sentence

* Moldova's Constitutional Court ruled that the election of Mihai Ghimpu as parliamentary speaker was legal, a court spokesman said

* At least 159 people have died and some 600,000 have been affected by heavy rains and floods in West Africa since June, a United Nations humanitarian agency said

RUSSIA

* The U.S. and Russian presidents will meet in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to discuss progress towards a new bilateral arms control treaty, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* Moscow will host an international conference on Sudan on October 6-7, the Russian president's envoy for settlement of the long-running conflict in the African state said

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed media speculation that the Arctic Sea cargo ship, recently hijacked in the Atlantic, was carrying missiles for S-300 air defense systems

* The Russian foreign minister dismissed accusations that the director of the UN nuclear watchdog was holding back information on Iran's nuclear issue

* The board of directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development approved a loan of up to 240 million euros ($347 mln) to LUKoil, Russia's largest independent crude producer