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Main news of September 18

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WORLD * Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is being blocked by a number of countries, President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with... 18.09.2009, Sputnik International

2009-09-18T19:59+0000

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Main news of September 18

19:59 GMT 18.09.2009

WORLD

* Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is being blocked by a number of countries, President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Swiss media ahead of his visit to Bern

* In its perception of Russia, the West has yet to completely get rid of its "Cold War" stereotypes, the Russian president said

* Russia and NATO should pool their expertise and work together on missile defense, the secretary general of the North Atlantic alliance said

* More than 4,000 people have died from swine flu worldwide, with the total number of officially confirmed cases reaching 295,000, Russia's consumer watchdog said citing a World Health Organization report

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a pre-sermon speech before Friday prayers said the world had a "duty" to confront Israel in order to guarantee global peace, Iran's Press TV reported

* Linking the U.S., NATO and Russia missile-defense systems is a feasible proposal, Russia's envoy to the North Atlantic alliance said

* U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a speech at the Brookings Institute that Poland and the Czech Republic would remain the key candidates to host a missile defense shield

* Six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program may be resumed but with only four parties, excluding Russia and Japan, a leading Russian expert on Korea told RIA Novosti

* Russia could abandon plans to deploy tactical missiles in its Baltic exclave in response to the U.S. decision to drop its missile shield plans for Central Europe, a high-ranking military source said

* The first phase of joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises began with the involvement of some 100 aircraft and 12,600 military personnel, the Belarusian Defense Ministry announced

* Russia's prime minister said he expects the United States to back a joint bid by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to join the WTO after its "brave" decision to scrap missile defense plans for Europe

* Tbilisi is still counting on using force to regain control over its former republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement

* Kremlin aide Sergei Prikhodko confirmed that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will pay a visit to Singapore in mid-November

* Greek police arrested a man for growing cannabis on a busy national highway, local media said

RUSSIA

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said during a televised interview that the human rights situation in the country was "far from perfect"

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that the popular portrayal of him and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin a "young liberal lawyer" and KGB "spy" is incorrect as they both have a lot in common in reality

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev congratulated Russia's northwest city of Veliky Novgorod with its 1,150th anniversary

*The creation of several global reserve currencies would not harm the interests of the United States, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

* The president of the Russian North Caucasus republic of Chechnya issued a statement on the government website pledging that militant leaders operating in the republic would be eliminated within a year or "starve to death"

* The total number of registered HIV cases in Russia since 1987 has reached half a million, Russia's chief sanitary official said

* Russia's next national census, originally scheduled for October 2010, has been postponed to 2013 due to the economic crisis, a spokesman for Russian statistics service Rosstat said

BUSINESS

* Aeroflot, Russia's flagship air carrier, posted a 2% increase year-on-year in it net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards to 5.2 billion ($171 mln) for January-August 2009

* LUKoil is ready to hand over its assets in Venezuela to a Russian oil consortium provided the company receives compensation for its outlay, the head of Russia's largest independent oil producer said

* Russia's prime minister welcomed the $17 billion in direct foreign investment that came into Russia in the first half of 2009, and vowed that the country would continue to attract investors

* Russia will invest up to 286 billion rubles ($9.4 billion) in nanotechnology projects in 2008-2015, the head of the state nanotechnology corporation said