WORLD
* Ukraine's state-controlled energy company Naftogaz said it had paid Russia in full for natural gas consumed in September.
* Mediators and observers in the conflict over Moldova's breakaway region of Transdnestr have urged the parties to the conflict to resume talks to find a just and long-term solution, the OSCE said
* Georgia has resumed transit of Russian natural gas to Armenia after a break for pipeline repairs, a spokesman for the Armenian gas pipeline operator ArmRosgazprom said
* German police officers detained in Berlin on Wednesday three people suspected of plotting terrorist attacks in Russia, the local prosecutor general's office said
* NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged Russia to provide assistance in training and equipping the Afghan Army
* Two pilots were killed when a Libyan Air Force MiG-23 Flogger fighter crashed in Tripoli during a demonstration flight, a Libyan Defense Ministry spokesman said
* New Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said he would make the fight against corruption a priority
* New U.S. missile shield plans present no risks for Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
* Abkhazia will hold presidential elections on December 12, the former Georgian republic's parliament decided
* Turkey is ready to sign a pact on October 10 on reopening its border with Armenia and reestablishing relations, if Armenia does not insist on last-minute changes to the draft, the Turkish prime minister told The Wall Street Journal
* Finland, which earlier raised environmental concerns over the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline across the Baltic Sea, is set to give its approval to the project, a Belgian radio station reported
* Gazprom confirmed that Ukraine had paid for Russian natural gas deliveries to the country for September
RUSSIA
* Russia's emergencies ministry has put farms in Russia's southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever, the ministry said in a statement
* A rally was held in central Moscow in memory of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead by an unknown killer three years ago
* Russian Airborne Troops commander Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov has received an official warning following a probe into his involvement in illegal activities, the Defense Ministry said
* Russia's hydropower company RusHydro announced it had completed the cleanup of debris at a Siberian hydropower plant severely damaged during a recent accident
* Russia's prime minister highlighted the declining interest in reading and inadequate book supplies to the provinces as key problems facing national literature at a meeting with writers
* Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said Russia has five ongoing contracts with Libya in the sphere of military cooperation
* Hydropower company RusHydro will raise loans worth 7 billion rubles ($230 million) in 2010 to restore a Siberian hydropower plant severely damaged during a recent accident, the company's acting CEO said
* A lawyer acting for the family of the late Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya denied reports that new suspects have emerged in the 2006 murder case
* Russia has reached an agreement with Turkmenistan on resuming natural gas supplies from the Central Asian country, the press secretary of the Russian president said
World
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