Main news of July 9

RUSSIA

* Russia will respond to U.S. missile shield plans in Central Europe, President Dmitry Medvedev said, pledging at the same time that Moscow would not resort to 'hysterics' over the issue

* Georgia's actions with regard to its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia pose a real threat to peace and stability in the South Caucasus, Russia's Foreign Ministry said

* President Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia and Japan would continue talks on the South Kuril Islands, a territorial dispute that has overshadowed trade ties

* Russia is awaiting an official response from the British authorities over recent allegations of the Kremlin's alleged involvement in the 2006 killing of a former Russian security officer in the U.K., the Russian ambassador in London said

* The Russian Orthodox Church criticized the Church of England's decision to allow the ordination of women bishops, saying it could trigger a schism in the church and harm ties with other denominations

* Four Russian strategic bombers are carrying out a routine patrol over the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, a Russian Air Force spokesman said

* Russia's arms exports are expected to exceed $6 bln this year, the chief executive of the state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport said

* Russia must use economic and political means, and military ties with Asia, to punish European states that agree to host U.S. missile defense elements, a Russian political analyst said

* Six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program that are set to resume in the Chinese capital on Thursday may run into disagreements over key issues, Russia's chief nuclear negotiator said

* Three people were killed and one injured when gunmen attacked a village in the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia, a local Interior Ministry official said

WORLD

* The Czech president said he is ready to put his signature to a U.S.-Czech missile shield agreement without a second's hesitation

* Leaders of rich and developing nations failed to overcome differences on tackling climate change but agreed on the need for major emissions cuts, as the G8 summit concluded in Japan

* G8 leaders said Robert Mugabe's reelection as president of Zimbabwe was illegitimate and called on the African state to peacefully resolve its political crisis following the violence-ridden vote 

* Three police officers and three gunmen were killed in a shootout outside the U.S. consulate in Istanbul, the city governor said

* Iran has tested a Shahab-3 missile with a range of 2,000 km (1.240 miles), the Alalam satellite TV channel reported

* Iran's armed forces are ready to respond to any threats, an Air Force commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps said after a long-range missile test

* Georgia and Russia accused each other of airspace violations, saying the other's aircraft flew over the South Ossetian conflict zone on Tuesday night

* Georgia's foreign minister said that the current visit of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shows Washington's support for Georgia as a democratic state

* Israel's state-controlled radio claimed that Islamic Hezbollah has increased its rocket arsenal threefold since the start of an armed conflict with Israel two years ago

* A joint group of UN observers and Russian peacekeepers will investigate an incident in the Georgia-Abkhazia conflict zone, which left two Abkhaz servicemen wounded, an Abkhaz military source said

* Belarusian security officers have detained three people as part of the investigation into a July 3 explosion in the capital Minsk, the head of the capital's state security service said

* Defense ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will hold a meeting in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, on August 21, a spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry said

* A Georgian border post in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone came under attack early, the Rustavi-2 TV channel reported, citing eyewitnesses

* The construction of a natural gas pipeline to link energy-rich Kazakhstan with China began, the Kazakh construction company Kazstroiservis said

BUSINESS

* Canada's Kinross Gold Corporation has started developing a gold mine in the Chukotka Region in Russia's Far East where a $750 mln gold extraction factory was opened, local authorities said

* Russia's state-controlled oil pipeline operator Transneft [RTS: TRNF] said its net profit calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards grew 17.8% year-on-year in 2007 to 64.67 billion rubles ($2.7 billion)

* Russia's state-owned Rosneft will produce 11 million barrels of oil at the eastern Siberian Vankor field in 2008 and up to 213 million barrels in 2015, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said

* Russia's agricultural regulator Rosselkhoznadzor said it would impose temporary bans on some meat imports into Russia from eight countries