Main news of November 13

RUSSIA

* Chief of the Russian General Staff, Gen. Yury Baluyevsky said:

- the Russian Armed Forces are under no obligation to protect the world from the U.S.

- Missile defense elements the United States plans to deploy in Central Europe are undoubtedly directed against Russia

* Six sailors are confirmed dead after their ships sank between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov two days ago, and 2,000 tons of fuel oil, more than previously thought, has spilled into the sea, officials said

* Vitaly Kaloyev, jailed in Switzerland for killing an air traffic controller he blamed for the death of his family arrived in Moscow following his early release

* Russia's Foreign Ministry accused the OSCE's human rights body of trying to politicize the invitation process for observers due to monitor Russian parliamentary elections on December 2

* Russia's Supreme Court ruled against "mild" prison sentences handed down last year to three men convicted of killing Russian border guard general Vitaly Gamov, and sent the case for reconsideration

* Experts said it will take six months for oil products spilled into the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov at the weekend to dissolve or be washed ashore

* In heading the list of candidates for the leading, Kremlin-backed party, the president took on enormous responsibility for ensuring continuity of current policies, the Russian premier said
 

WORLD

* Iran will not stop uranium enrichment as a condition for the resumption of direct talks with the United States, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said

* Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was placed under house arrest for the second time in a week ahead of a new rally against the current state of emergency

* The end of the Israeli occupation of Arab lands will ensure peace in the Middle East, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said

* Myanmar's military government and opposition are ready for UN-mediated talks on national reconciliation, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said

* Hamas has arrested more than 350 Fatah activists in Gaza since the Islamist group opened fire on a mass rally of the secular party's supporters on Monday, killing seven people, a Fatah spokesman said

* Four Turkish servicemen, including an officer, died and at least nine soldiers were wounded in clashes with Kurdish separatists in southeast Turkey, local media reported

*  Georgia intends to spend some $12 million from government reserves on early presidential elections and a parallel referendum on parliamentary polls set for January 5, the finance minister said

* At least 28 people have been killed in Vietnam by Typhoon Peipah, which continues to wreak havoc on already flooded areas of central Vietnam, a disaster official said

* A Soviet-era Russian military base in Batumi was formally handed over to the Georgian Defense Ministry, with Russia pledging to complete the pullout of military equipment by the end of November

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is set to attend the third summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 17, an Iranian news agency said

* The launch of a Zenit rocket with a Thuraya-3 communications satellite slated for Wednesday has been delayed indefinitely due to poor weather conditions, a Sea Launch consortium spokesperson said

BUSINESS

* Russia and Slovenia signed an intergovernmental agreement to settle Moscow's $129.2 million Soviet-era debt to Ljubljana, a Russian deputy finance minister said

* Russia's state-controlled crude producer Rosneft intends to boost oil refining to 1 million barrels a day, a company vice-president said

* Russia's Central Bank has officially increased its annual inflation forecast from 8% to 10-11%, the first deputy chairman said

* Italian oil and gas company Eni S.p.A. is interested in a project to build a liquefied natural gas plant.(LNG) on the coast of the Baltic Sea, the company's manager in Russia said