Main news of June 8

RUSSIA

At the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg:

- First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said the Russian economy is likely to become the world's sixth largest by the end of this year

- Russia must raise spending on infrastructure development from the current level of 2.5% of GDP to 4%, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said

- Russia currently has a severe shortage of small businesses engaged in science-intensive areas, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said

- Russia's new Sukhoi Superjet family of medium-haul airliners could become a global brand, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said

- Economics Minister Elvira Nabiullina said the shortage of highly-skilled personnel in Russia is one of the major obstacles to economic growth, along with inflation

* Net capital outflow from Russia hit $2.4 billion in January-May, Gennady Melikyan, first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, told RIA Novosti

* Seven miners received burns following a minor blast at a coal mine in southwest Siberia, the local administration said 

* The families of the 10 people that died in a fire on a cargo ship at a military dockyard in Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad will receive over $43,000 each in compensation, a navy spokesman said

* Four cars were set on fire in Moscow, bringing the total to 32 since a wave of arson attacks on vehicles parked outside apartment blocks began on May 30, police said 

WORLD

* Seven people have been confirmed dead and 11 injured after a man drove a truck into a crowd before stabbing several passersby in central Tokyo, a local police spokesman said

* Turkish bomber planes carried out strikes on Saturday night in northern Iraq, targeting bases of Kurdish separatists, the Turkish military announced on its website

BUSINESS

* The Russian leadership does not intend to intervene in an ongoing dispute between shareholders of Russian-British oil venture TNK-BP, a Kremlin aide said

* Polyus Gold [RTS: PLZL], Russia's largest gold producer, will increase gold output 60% from last year's level to 60 metric tons by 2011, company co-owner and billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov said

* United Company RusAl will spend over $300 million on building two terminals at a port in northwestern Russia to supply aluminum products and alumina to world markets, the company said