Main news of September 27

RUSSIA

* Russia is ready to take appropriate measures if weapons are deployed in space, the commander of the Russian Space Forces said

* Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on forming a presidential council on preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and said Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov would head the new body

* Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov denied reports that Russia sold North Korea aluminum pipes, that the media said could be used to produce uranium enrichment centrifuges

* New sanctions against Iran could undermine the UN nuclear watchdog's efforts to resolve the country's nuclear problem, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* The Russian Interior Ministry has proposed making the acquirement and possession of child pornography for personal use a criminal offence, Deputy Interior Minister Nikolai Ovchinnikov said

* Russia is preparing to launch four U.S. Globalstar satellites into orbit on board a Soyuz-FG carrier rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on October 25, the space agency said

* A boy who survived a freezing two-hour flight to Moscow in the wheel well of a Boeing 737's wing is on the mend, a senior hospital official in the Urals said

* Alexander Lemansky, the chief designer of the S-400 Triumf (SA-21 Growler) air defense system, died at the Kapustin Yar firing range in south Russia, a spokesman for the Almaz company said

* The world's fir st floating nuclear power plant will be commissioned in 2011 in Russia's Arctic, the governor of the Arkhangelsk Region said

WORLD

* Six nations engaged in protracted talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament gathered for a new round of negotiations in the Chinese capital  after a six-month break

* Nine people were killed in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, in a crackdown by security forces during protests, state media reported

* Former Georgian defense minister Irakly Okruashvili, an outspoken critic of President Mikheil Saakashvili, was detained by police on corruption charges, the Prosecutor General's Office said

* Direct talks to be held Friday between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders on the status of Kosovo will provide a last chance to reach a compromise on the issue, Serbia's prime minister said

* Two Palestinian militants were killed by Israeli forces in north Gaza early on Thursday, bringing the Palestinian death toll in two days of military operations up to 11

* China has completed the delivery of 50,000 metric tons of fuel oil to North Korea, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said

* Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf registered to run in presidential elections due on October 6, Pakistani media reported

* A U.S. spacecraft named Dawn has blasted off from Cape Canaveral on an exploration mission to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, NASA said

* Iran is ready to sign a bilateral agreement with Pakistan to build a gas pipeline, despite one of the project partners' absence, acting Iranian Petroleum Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said

* Russia's foreign minister and the Serbian president met in New York reaffirming a need for a compromise on the future of Serbia's secessionist Kosovo province, a source in the Russian delegation said

* Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili demanded a change in the format of talks on Abkhazia and the replacement of peacekeepers in the secessionist republic of the South Caucasus nation

BUSINESS

* Russia's Novatek said it had bought 50% in a concession agreement for oil and gas exploration and development of the El-Arish offshore deposit in Egypt from Tharwa Petroleum S.A.E.

* Vneshtorgbank (VTB) is planning to sell its 5% stake in the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) before 2008, the Russian state-controlled bank said

* The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan will start building a $4 billion oil refinery in Turkey in 2008, company president Rovnag Abdullayev said