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Main news of November 18

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A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours 18.11.2010, Sputnik International

2010-11-18T20:59+0000

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Main news of November 18

20:59 GMT 18.11.2010

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Russia insists that suspected arms dealer Viktor Bout is given a just trial, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said

*Moscow hopes the Iran Six group of mediators will resume talks in early December, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* U.S. officials told suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout that Moscow had sent assassins to Thailand and the United States to kill him, his wife said

*The presidents of the Caspian states of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan agreed to take steps to resolve the long-standing dispute over the Caspian Sea delimitation

* The possible deployment of elements of a NATO missile defense system in Turkey poses no threat to Iran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at a press conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

* China will rely on its own resources of uranium to meet a mounting demand for nuclear power, the Xinhua news agency quoted a senior official as saying

* North Korea is likely to prepare a new underground nuclear test explosion, the Russian Trud daily said on Thursday citing Japanese Kyodo news agency

* North Korea will increase its nuclear deterrence forces if the U.S. threatens it with new sanctions

* U.S. officials attempted to force a confession from Russian alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout during an extradition flight from Thailand to the United States

RUSSIA

* Russia's consular assistance to alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout does not mean that Moscow has taken the position that Bout is innocent of the charges against him, a presidential aide said

* Russia's Audit Chamber says it found no evidence of major embezzlement at the country's pipeline monopoly Transneft, following allegations by the company's minority shareholder Alexei Navalny, Audit Chamber head Sergei Stepashin said

BUSINESS

* The Moscow city government is to sell its stake in Vnukovo airport, home to Russia's largest dedicated business aviation facility, and the Moscow airline (formerly Atlant-Soyuz), Transport Minister Igor Levitin said

* Russia's gas giant Gazprom will set up a joint venture on a parity basis with Israel to develop Israel's offshore gas deposits, Stanislav Tsygankov, head of Gazprom's foreign relations department, said

* Russia's 2010 budget deficit will not exceed five percent of gross domestic product (GDP), Deputy Finance Minister Oksana Sergiyenko said

* The Russian construction company Inteco, owned by Yelena Baturina, the billionaire wife of Moscow ex-mayor Yury Luzhkov, will sell its 50 percent stake in a wedding registry office in the capital's sky-high City Palace complex by the end of November, company spokesman Gennady Terebkov said

* Intergeo, a new ore mining subsidiary of Russia's Onexim Group private equity fund, has purchased the Kingash Ore Mining Combine from the country's largest nickel producer Norilsk Nickel, Kommersant business daily reported