Main news of May 29

RUSSIA

* The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that the Russian government was involved in the disappearance of nine Chechens, and has ordered a compensation payout of $713,000

* France has pledged to work with Russia to ensure the soonest possible launch of talks on a partnership deal between Russia and the European Union, Russia's prime minister said on Thursday

* A court in south Russia's Astrakhan Region has given a three-year suspended sentence to a local businessman who traded pirated Microsoft software, the regional prosecutor's office said on Thursday

* An oil executive who worked at Russia's TNK before its merger with BP is under investigation for tax evasion exceeding $950 million, an Interior Ministry source said on Thursday

* The presidents of Russia and Ukraine will meet at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum scheduled for June 6-8, the Kremlin press service said on Thursday

* Two servicemen were killed and three injured when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia on Thursday, a source in the local interior ministry said

* Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service has denied reports that Alexander Koptsev, convicted of stabbing nine people in a Moscow synagogue in 2006, has committed suicide

* An explosion at an oil refinery near St. Petersburg on Thursday left one dead and four others critically injured, local emergency services said

* The commander of the Russian Navy will visit a naval research facility Russia rents on a lake in Kyrgyzstan, as part of his current visit to the Central Asian country, a Navy spokesman said on Thursday

* Russia will spend around 600 billion rubles ($25 billion) on scientific research in 2008-2010, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday

* Russia's top prosecutors are refusing to submit "classified" documents to a Moscow court in a case involving former top investigator Dmitry Dovgy, sacked after claims he leaked sensitive information

* Russia has dismantled another six outdated Topol mobile ballistic missile systems under a major international treaty on strategic arms reduction, the Strategic Missile Forces said in a statement on Thursday

* Russian police have detained 20 people suspected of being members of an organized criminal group involved in controlling the illegal drug market in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, a police spokesman said

* Russia welcomes the start of the talks with the EU on a new Partnership and Cooperation agreement, but doubts a deal can be reached by the end of this year, a government source said on Thursday

* Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will arrive on his first official visit to Russia on Thursday, a spokesman for Russia's Foreign Ministry said

WORLD

* The UN Security Council will discuss at a closed session on May 30 the issue of a Georgian spy drone allegedly shot down by Russia over a Georgian breakaway region, Russia's UN envoy said on Thursday

* Kazakhstan has ratified a treaty with Azerbaijan allowing Kazakh crude to be pumped through a pipeline linking Azerbaijan's Caspian coast to Turkey's Mediterranean coast, the presidential administration said

* The Taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing in Afghanistan's capital Kabul early on Thursday, which claimed the lives of three civilians

* The international soccer governing body FIFA said on Thursday it has decided to provisionally lift a suspension imposed on the Iraqi Football Association

* Iranian authorities plan to post a film on the Internet on Thursday designed as a riposte to a controversial anti-Koran documentary by a Dutch politician, an Iranian newspaper said

* Georgia will present to the OSCE Permanent Council on Thursday a recent United Nations report saying Russia shot down an unmanned Georgian spy plane in the breakaway region of Abkhazia, national media said

* Colombia will press Russia for the extradition of an Israeli national accused by Bogota of conspiracy to commit terrorism despite a Strasbourg court ban, a Colombian paper said Thursday citing an official

* Russia's Foreign Ministry urged Somali authorities on Thursday not to take action that could jeopardize the safety of Russian and Filipino crew members aboard a Dutch vessel recently seized by pirates

* The death toll from China's powerful earthquake that devastated the southwest province of Sichuan on May 12 has risen to 68,516, a spokesman for the country's State Council said on Thursday

* The president of Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia accused Georgia of a policy of state terrorism following an alleged terrorist act in the center of the capital, Tskhinvali, early on Thursday

* Delegations from South Korea and the U.S. are due to meet in Moscow over the next two days to discuss North Korea's nuclear program ahead of six-nation talks

 

BUSINESS

* The net inflow of foreign capital into Russia's banking system in the first four months of 2008 totaled $3.9 billion, a source close to the Central Bank said on Thursday

* Aricom, a Russian diversified metals and mining group, said on Thursday it intends to build a high-quality cast iron plant in Russia's Far East, using third-generation technology

* Russian energy giant Gazprom and South Korea's gas corporation Kogas have agreed to set up a working group on gas supplies to South Korea, the head of Russia's industrial safety watchdog said on Thursday

* Russian air company KD Avia ordered on Thursday 25 new Airbus A319 airliners worth $1.7 billion at an air show in Berlin

* Russia's recently incorporated MiG aircraft manufacturer may become part of the state-owned United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) by the end of 2008, the head of the company said on Thursday

* VTB Bank, Russia's second largest bank in terms of assets, will raise a $1 billion syndicated loan in early June, VTB Bank Deputy Board Chairman Vasily Titov said on Thursday

* Russia's Central Bank plans to broaden the band of the euro-dollar basket fluctuations to the ruble for a gradual transition to inflation targeting, chief banker Sergei Ignatyev said on Thursday