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Main news of September 12

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RUSSIA

* Russia's budget spending on state defense orders will amount to 1.2 trillion rubles ($46.8 billion) in 2009, a first deputy prime minister said

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a directive on Friday on allocating an additional $2.6 billion to develop the country's Glonass satellite system

* A BMW X5 off-road vehicle was stolen from a woman, allegedly working as a cleaner at a Moscow company, Russian media reported

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States were comparable to Georgia's military action in its breakaway region of South Ossetia early last month

* The organizers of a military music festival in Moscow sent an open letter Friday to the British prime minister expressing disappointment over the withdrawal of British bagpipers, which forced the cancellation of the event

* Russian transport authorities have found that embattled alliance AiRUnion owes millions of rubles in unpaid wages to employees, the General Prosecutor's Office said

* The Public Investigation Commission in South Ossetia has launched an English-language version, the head of the committee said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed speculation on Friday that his country would not have enough natural gas for European consumers and pledged to launch new fields if the market grows

* Strategic submarines from the Russian Pacific Fleet will conduct test launches of ballistic missiles at the Kura test site in Kamchatka on September 15-20, a fleet source said

* Russian Federal Security Service officers seized over 80 kg of heroin and 27 kg of hashish in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, with a total street value of over $3.5 million, an FSB official said

* The Supreme Court of the northeastern Russian republic of Yakutia has convicted two 18-year-old women of attempted murder, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said

WORLD

* Russia may sign friendship and cooperation agreements with Georgia's rebel provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia early next week, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said

* A Russian envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe dismissed a report by a western news agency, that OSCE talks on sending military observers to Abkhazia and South Ossetia were deadlocked

* A Chinese purse snatcher leapt off the roof of a seven-storey shopping mall during a police chase only to be arrested several minutes later, the China Daily said

* Thailand's former prime minister, who was forced to quit his post over a breach of constitutional law, also plans to resign as the ruling party leader, the Bangkok Post said on Friday citing his former aid

* North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, whose illness has sparked speculation of a possible leadership change, has recovered enough to brush his teeth, Seoul's Yonhap agency said on Friday, citing an official

* India is preparing for an official visit by the Russian defense minister to New Delhi on September 28-30, an Indian defense official told RIA Novosti

* The UN nuclear watchdog will present a new report on Iran's controversial nuclear program on September 15 in Vienna, the country's official IRNA news agency said Friday, quoting an informed source

* The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that a German cargo vessel seized by Somali pirates last month, has been released along with the crew, including three Russians, who are reported to be well

* French and British firefighters put out a fire in the Channel Tunnel on Friday, that had broken out on a freight train the previous afternoon and left 14 people injured

* Belgium has canceled an official visit by one of its warships to Russia, a source in the Russian Navy said

* Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he doubts that any peace agreement can be reached with Israel by the end of 2008

* The death toll from a landslide that engulfed a mining village in northern China has risen to 178, with 27 more bodies being pulled from the debris on Friday, the Xinhua news agency said

* A Russian sumo wrestler who became the first ever athlete to be expelled from the 2000-year-old sport for possession of marijuana has filed an appeal with a Japanese court, his lawyer said

* Poland's former president, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, went on trial Friday, along with other ex-communist officials, for imposing martial law in 1981 which resulted in over 90 deaths across the country

* Danish soccer legend Michael Laudrup has signed a one-and-a-half year contract to manage Spartak Moscow, the club announced at a press conference

* Brazilian World Cup winner Rivaldo scored twice on Friday on his debut for the Uzbek side Bunyodkor, the club announced on its official website

* The docking of a Progress spacecraft with the ISS has been postponed for four days due to the evacuation of U.S. colleagues in the face of a looming hurricane, a Russian Mission Control spokesman said

* Russia plans to raise the issue of imposing an arms embargo on Georgia at talks scheduled for October 15 in Geneva, the Russian foreign minister said

* China will launch its Shenzhou 7 manned spacecraft at 13:10 GMT on September 25, weather permitting, the Sohu news service reported

* Around one million people in coastal areas of Texas have been forced to flee their homes as Hurricane Ike approaches the U.S. state

* Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has said that Georgia should be admitted to NATO, and that the United States could go to war with Russia if Moscow then attacked the South Caucasus state

* Five people hospitalized with anthrax in southern Kazakhstan have had their diagnosis confirmed, the Kazakh emergencies ministry said

* The Sea Launch consortium will put a new telecommunications satellite into orbit on September 23 from its ocean-based platform in the Pacific, a company spokesperson said

* A passenger bus skidded off a bridge into a river near the Iranian capital of Tehran early on Friday, leaving at least 12 people dead, Iranian media reported

* Venezuela's president has demanded the U.S. ambassador leave his country within 72 hours, escalating a diplomatic dispute between the United States and Bolivia

* More than 20,000 people have been stranded after a fire broke out in the Channel Tunnel last night, causing all Eurostar trains on the key undersea route linking France and Britain to be canceled

* Five people were killed and two others injured in a car crash in central Kazakhstan, a local emergencies spokesman said

BUSINESS

* Evraz Group S.A., Russia's largest steelmaker, announced on Friday it has completed a deal to sell vanadium assets in South Africa

* Russia's largest diamond producer Alrosa said on Friday it will prospect for diamonds in southern sectors of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

* The Russian steelmaking giant Severstal [RTS: CHMF] is set to receive a $1.5 billion syndicated loan, a banking source said

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