Main news of May 28

RUSSIA

* Russia's president congratulated officers of the Federal Border Service (FPS) on Border Guard's Day and urged them to continue to secure Russia's borders from terrorists and drug traffickers

* Russia's government has raised planned budget revenue for 2008 by $38.2 billion to nearly $382 billion, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree to transfer a state-held stake in the air alliance AiRUnion to the state corporation Rostekhnologii, the corporation head said

* Federal spending in 2008 will increase by 120.4 billion rubles ($5 bln) as a result of additional income, Russia's finance minister said 

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that third parties could be behind Georgia's provocative actions against Russia 

* Inflation in Russia reached 7.5% from January 1 to May 26, compared to the government's target of 10.5% for the whole of 2008, the country's top statistics body Rosstat said

* The Russian government will sue Swiss trader Noga for 1 million euros ($1.6 million) following the seizure of Russian assets in France, the Finance Ministry said

* The winners of the Russian Defense Ministry's auction to sell two military properties in Moscow are structures close to billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, business daily Vedomosti reported

* The Russian government has decided not to extend prohibitive duty rates on grain exports, Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev said

* Russia's Black Sea Fleet based in Sevastopol does not pose any threat to Ukraine's national security, a senior Russian diplomat said

* Russia will begin deliveries of new Yak-130 combat trainers to Algeria in January 2009, the plane's manufacturer said

* Russia is prepared to offer Algeria new MiG-35 Fulcrum fighter aircraft to replace the MiG-29 Fulcrum aircraft due to be supplied under a contract terminated earlier this year, the MiG Corp. CEO said

* Senator John McCain's recent remarks on nuclear disarmament and cooperation with Moscow send a positive signal that should not be ignored, a senior Russian MP said

* Russia's new Superjet 100 medium-haul passenger airliner made its second test flight on May 24, the head of the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company announced

* Russia will start training Indian pilots on MiG-29 carrier fighters to be deployed on the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier sold to India for $1.5 billion in 2004, the head of the MiG corporation said

* A Russian fan of Manchester United has been arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing a friend who supported Chelsea after an alcohol-fueled row, investigators in Nizhny Novgorod said

* A southern Russian court sentenced five Russians, convicted of smuggling four missile systems from Abkhazia, to between eight and 11 years in prison

WORLD

* The death toll from the May 12 earthquake in southwest China has risen to 68,109, with almost 20,000 people still unaccounted for, the Chinese State Council said in a statement

* Israel's defense minister has urged the country's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, to step down after a U.S. businessman told an Israeli court that he had paid the premier around $150,000

* Ali Larijani, a former head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, has been elected speaker of the country's parliament, the IRNA news agency reported

* Georgia has asked the UN Security Council to convene an extraordinary meeting to discuss the Georgian drone shot down over Abkhazia April 20, Georgia's UN envoy said in a letter to the council's president

* Amnesty International highlighted in a report a rise in race-hate attacks in Russia, the authorities' increasing intolerance of dissent, and ongoing human rights violations in the North Caucasus

* A Russian peacekeeper sustained gunshot wounds and another was stabbed in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia, peacekeepers and national media reported

* Russia's new president must ensure that far-reaching changes are introduced in attitudes to human rights in the country, Amnesty International said

* Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization would facilitate the resolution of trade disputes with Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian presidential administration official said

* The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Russia cannot extradite to Columbia an Israeli national accused by Bogota of conspiracy in terrorism, the defendant's lawyer said

* The case of a U.S. national, held in custody for more than two months in Minsk, accused of using false documents and smuggling drugs, has been handed over to a Belarusian court, a KGB spokesman said

* India's defense minister said his country is no longer prepared to buy weapons from foreign companies unless deals include the transfer of technology, the ministry press service said

* If Russia does not agree to a Georgian proposal to change the peacekeeping format in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone, Tbilisi could declare Russian peacekeepers occupiers, a Georgian MP said

* The crew of the International Space Station have repaired the main toilet, which broke last week, leaving the astronauts with almost nowhere to go, a Mission Control spokesman said

* Two Czech protesters who have been on a hunger strike for 16 days in protest against U.S. plans to build a radar base in the country say they will continue their protest until their demands are met

* Russia's envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia should attend the UN Security Council session, requested by Tbilisi

BUSINESS

* The ongoing dispute between Russian and British shareholders of oil company TNK-BP could lead to the company being bought up by a Russian state giant, most likely Gazprom but possibly Rosneft, analysts said

* Russia's largest car producer AvtoVAZ will postpone a share placement scheduled for this fall until the first half of 2009, the chairman of the board said

* An auction for a 50.9% stake in Moscow electric power trader Mosenergosbyt was won by unknown firm Korporativno-trustoviye proyekty, which paid 11.3 bln rubles ($478 mln), Russia's electricity monopoly said

* Fitch has changed the outlook for its long-term ratings for St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, from stable to positive, the international rating agency said

* Metal giant Norilsk Nickel and Metalloinvest, a leading Russian iron-ore producer, have suspended merger negotiations, Norilsk said

* The Interros holding owned by Vladimir Potanin, and Gallagher Holdings Ltd., an investment company owned by Russia's Alisher Usmanov, said  they have reached an asset swap deal to create a global metal giant