Main news of October 29

RUSSIA

* The Moscow City Court sentenced Alexander Pichushkin, one of the most prolific serial killers in Russia's history, to life in prison for 48 murders

* Russia's Strategic Missile Forces announced the successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan

* Bilateral energy cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan is not politically driven, but guided by economic factors, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced plans to pay a working visit to Moscow on November 11-12, the Russian Security Council's acting secretary said

* Russia believes that Israeli fuel cuts to Gaza in response to militant rocket attacks on Israel will damage political dialogue, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said

* A military court in Moscow sentenced a Russian major to seven years in prison for spying for Poland

WORLD

* North Korea will start disabling its nuclear facilities from November 1 as a second step of an agreement aimed at its complete nuclear disarmament in exchange for aid, South Korea's Yonhap agency said

* Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he had prostate cancer, but that it was not life-threatening, and he would continue to perform his duties

* Cristina Kirchner is leading presidential polls in Argentina with 44% of ballots counted, the country's central election commission said

* Turkey has suspended ratification of a bilateral anti-terrorism cooperation agreement with Iraq following the recent crisis over the presence of Kurdish militants on Iraqi territory, a Turkish newspaper reported

* Iran could use suicide bombers from its Basij paramilitary force if enemies launch an attack from the Persian Gulf, a naval deputy commander in the Revolutionary Guards said

* Militants and government troops in northwestern Pakistan have agreed a ceasefire in the mountainous region of Swat, where over 50 extremists died over the weekend in clashes, Pakistan TV said

* The foreign ministers of Germany and France called on Russia not to destroy the system of international arms reduction pacts by pulling out of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty

* Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced that a program will soon be launched to build several nuclear power plants in the country, national news agency MENA reported

* Iranian law enforcement officers killed seven drug traffickers on the Afghan border during a special operation, Iranian TV channels reported

* Belgian police are searching for a Belgium criminal who fled prison after his accomplice crash-landed a helicopter in the prison yard, local media said

* Four miners were killed and three others injured during a rock slide at a coal mine in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian emergencies ministry said

BUSINESS

* Duty on Russian oil exports could rise by about $21.5 to reach $271.8 per metric ton as of December 1, in keeping with world market trends, a Finance Ministry official said

* The Nabucco project to build a trans-Caspian natural gas pipeline to Europe bypassing Russia is impracticable, the general secretary of the EU Energy Charter Secretariat said

* Russian businesses will expand their presence in Venezuela, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said

* Russia's foreign debt, including debt inherited from the Soviet Union, decreased 9.4% year-on-year in January-September 2007 to $47.1 billion, the Finance Ministry announced