Main News of October 7

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

RUSSIA

 

* Russia’s consumer rights watchdog said it was ordering a ban on the import of Lithuanian dairy products, the latest twist in an escalating spat between the two countries.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin, who turned 61 on Monday, was not able to fit celebrations into his tight schedule but he was happy to receive gifts and greetings from world leaders at an Asian economic forum in Indonesia, his press secretary said.

* The father of fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is expected to come to Russia along with other relatives in the near future, Snowden’s attorney said.

* A memorial plaque was unveiled in Moscow to commemorate crusading Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya on the seventh anniversary of her murder.

* Russians are divided almost fifty-fifty on the possibility of a new ‘cold war’ between Russia and the United States, a state-run pollster said.

* The former head of a Moscow city department has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for embezzling 180 million rubles ($5.45 million) from a state development fund, the Prosecutor General's Office reported.

 

WORLD

 

* Violence flared in Kyrgyzstan in the latest bout of protests over a controversial Canadian-owned gold mine that for years has been a target of political wrangling and extortion schemes.

* Environmentalist group Greenpeace said that it may file an international lawsuit against Russia to seek the release of activists it says are being kept under inhumane prison conditions.

 

DEFENSE

 

* A new regiment equipped with S-400 Triumf air defense missile systems will be put on combat duty to bolster the air defenses around the Russian capital by the end of 2013, the Defense Ministry said.

* Members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russia-led military alliance of former Soviet states, started joint peacekeeping drills on Monday in Russia’s Urals region, the Central Military District said.

* A senior member of the Russian Public Chamber proposed including paintball as part of regular combat training in the Russian armed forces.

 

SPORTS

 

* The four-month, 65,000-kilometer torch relay ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games kicked off with synchronized swimmer Anastasia Davydova running with the flame across Moscow’s Red Square.

* World No. 3 tennis player Maria Sharapova of Russia withdrew from the season-ending WTA Championships in Istanbul as she continues to recover from injury.

* Spain’s Rafael Nadal regained the top spot in the ATP men's tennis rankings for the first time in more than two years, pushing Novak Djokovic back into second place.