Main news of November 25

RUSSIA

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov left for the United States to attend a Middle East peace forum expected to make progress on the issue of Palestinian statehood

* Several dozen people were detained at an unauthorized protest rally in St. Petersburg for an attempt to provoke clashes with the police, the city's interior department said

* A passenger jet, bound from Beijing to Paris, made a safe emergency landing at the St. Petersburg airport of Pulkovo after an apparent failure of its left engine, the regional emergencies center said

WORLD

* Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili announced on Saturday his resignation as he braced himself for early elections scheduled by Georgia's parliament for January 5, following mass street protests earlier in November

* The Georgian opposition held a new mass rally in Tbilisi, urging people to unite against violence committed by authorities and demanding that the government allow independent Imedi TV Company to resume broadcasts

* Three miners were trapped underground during a rock slide at a coalmine in eastern Ukraine, regional authorities said

* Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Mideast peace conference to be held in the United States next week would have no benefits, Iranian television reported