Main news of September 17

RUSSIA

* Andrei Lugovoi, wanted in Britain over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, has sued Russian newspaper Kommersant for an article he said portrays him as a murderer, the businessman's lawyer said

* Andrei Lugovoi was approved as number two Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) candidate for the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, in the December elections

* Russia's Foreign Ministry dismissed media reports that Russia is supplying weapons to Iraq

* Russia's industrial safety regulator said it hopes a nuclear security law will be passed before the UN nuclear watchdog's inspection, due in 2009

* Russian strategic bombers will conduct a series of long-range training flights, with aerial refueling during the exercises, scheduled for September 18-21, an Air Force spokesman said

* The Russian Progress M-60 cargo spacecraft will undock from the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday and spend several days engaged in research, a mission control official said

* Vietnam has returned about 4 kilograms (9 pounds) of highly enriched uranium to Russia, nuclear power agency Rosatom said

* An art collection amassed by the late cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and his wife has been bought by Kremlin-friendly tycoon Alisher Usmanov ahead of an auction, the billionaire's spokesman said

* A female Russian tourist was murdered and another seriously injured by unidentified assailants in the city of Suifenhe in northeast China, a Russian diplomat said

WORLD

* Thai authorities are to set up a commission to investigate Sunday's air crash in Phuket in southern Thailand in which at least 90 people were killed, Australia's ABC radio said

* IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei said:

- The UN nuclear watchdog is opposed to any use of military force against Iran and considers dialogue to be the only means of resolving the country's nuclear problem

- Iran has not yet provided the UN nuclear watchdog with convincing guarantees that its nuclear program is not weapons-oriented, but is cooperating with weapons inspectors

* The European Union refused to uphold an appeal by Microsoft Corp. against the EU Commission

* The death toll on the Indonesian island of Sumatra following Wednesday's magnitude 8.4 earthquake has reached 24, an Indonesian Health Ministry official said

* Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has ordered the lifting of restrictions on movement between the Lebanon-Syria border and will open two main checkpoints, a vice president said

* The next round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program will not be held on September 19, and could be postponed until October, Japan's Kyodo news agency said

* Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin Group, has pledged 100,000 British pounds ($200,000) to help clear the name of a British couple whose daughter went missing in Portugal on May 3

* Islamist movement Hamas said the U.S.-proposed Middle East peace conference would inevitably fail unless national unity was restored in the Palestinian territories

* The OSCE Minsk Group aimed at solving the dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region consider it inappropriate to include the issue on the UN General Assembly agenda, a Russian official said

* Kiev has signed contracts with French and U.S. companies on building a giant protective shield and a spent fuel storage facility in Chernobyl, the Ukrainian presidential office announced

* Bermet Akayeva, the daughter of the ex-president of Kyrgyzstan, charged with public order offenses April 24, has left the Central Asian republic after the criminal case against her was dropped, her lawyer said

BUSINESS

* Annual natural gas output in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area in northwest Siberia, could increase to 550 billion cubic meters by 2009, a regional energy report said

* Russia's broadly-defined monetary base decreased 3.3% month-on-month in August 2007 to 4.758 trillion rubles ($188 billion), the country's Central Bank (CBR) said