Main news of September 3

RUSSIA

* Euroset, Russia's largest mobile handset retailer, is set to challenge prosecutors' claims of smuggling and the alleged kidnapping and extortion by one of its employees, the company's co-owner said

* The visit by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine is aimed at establishing Washington's control of these post-Soviet states, a Russian top security official said

* Over 60 combat aircraft will participate on September 8-13 in exercises that are part of theater-level military maneuvers in central Russia, an Air Force spokesman said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on Wednesday on the construction of a huge suspension bridge to link the Far East city of Vladivostok to Russky Island, where the 2012 APEC summit will be held

* Georgia has failed to honor its commitment to withdraw troops under the Medvedev-Sarkozy peace plan, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said

* An opposition leader in the south Russia's republic of Ingushetia said he is being persecuted after participating in public protests against the death in police custody of an opposition journalist last Sunday

* Russia confirmed on Wednesday that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Poland on September 11 to discuss U.S. missile shield plans, the Georgia conflict, and ties with the EU

* Russia have dropped two places, from 10th to 12th, in the latest FIFA rankings released on Wednesday

* Russia will send no more than 10 monitors to the U.S. elections as part of the OSCE election monitoring mission in November, Russia's top election body said

* The recently appointed chief of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) will pay a visit to Moscow on September 9, a Russian election commission official said

* Two police officers were injured on Wednesday when gunmen opened fire on their car in the south Russian republic of Daghestan, a police spokesman said

* The consular department at Russia's embassy in Georgia will shut down on Wednesday following Tbilisi's formal announcement that it is to cut diplomatic ties with Russia, the embassy's press attache said

* One worker was killed and six injured after a gas blast at an open-pit coalmine in Khakasia, a Russian republic in south Siberia, a local emergencies official said

* Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry will send humanitarian aid on Wednesday to three Georgian villages near the border with South Ossetia, devastated by the recent conflict, a ministry spokesman said

* A prominent journalist in the south Russian republic of Daghestan died on Wednesday after being attacked by gunmen the previous day, a police official said

* Russia will meet all its commitments to supply natural gas to European Union member states, President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with the news channel Euronews

* Russia's president has said the country is ready to repair damaged relations with the United States despite Washington's support for the regime in Georgia

WORLD

* Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday that she is ready to back out of running in the presidential elections

* South Ossetia is ready to discuss the deployment of international observers on its territory but has not yet received any official proposals, the acting foreign minister said

* The military wing of the Provisional Irish Republican Army has "ceased to function" and is no longer a threat, an independent report said

* The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Wednesday urging Russia to withdraw its troops from Georgia under a ceasefire agreement with the Caucasus state

* A total of 517 refugees have returned to South Ossetia over the past 24 hours, a spokesman for North Ossetia's Emergencies Ministry said

* Abkhazia and South Ossetia should decide for themselves whether they want international observers working on their territory, the Russian foreign minister said

* The Georgian parliament lifted martial law on Wednesday and introduced a state of emergency in areas where it says Russian troops are deployed

* Transdnestr leader Igor Smirnov said he has lifted a moratorium on talks to find a settlement to the conflict with Moldova after a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

* The Ukrainian president accused on Wednesday the country's prime minister and opposition parties of attempting a constitutional coup and threatened to dissolve parliament if a new coalition was not formed

* Heads of the security councils of a post-Soviet security bloc have backed a Russian proposal to impose an arms embargo on Georgia, the head of the Russian Security Council said on Wednesday

* Two farms in north-east Estonia have joined forces to declare an independent "Soviet republic" and intend to seek Russia's recognition, a Russian communist organization said

* NATO is continuing to strengthen its naval task force in the Black Sea, a Turkish military source said

* The Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders restarted direct talks on the island's reunification on Wednesday, state media reported

* U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Libya this week, the first official trip to the North African country by a top U.S. diplomat in 55 years, the State Department announced

* Southwest China has been hit by 945 aftershocks since a 6.1-on-the-Richter-scale quake killed over 40 people in the region on Saturday, the Sina news agency said

* Tropical storm Hanna has claimed at least 21 lives in Haiti and is now heading toward the southeastern U.S. coastline, local media said

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Poland on September 11 for talks with his counterpart and the country's prime minister, Polish television said

* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's party officially pulled out of the ruling pro-Western coalition on Wednesday amid a government dispute over presidential powers and the Georgia-Russia conflict

BUSINESS

* The head of a Russian nuclear power plant construction company and the Bulgarian premier took part in a ceremony on Wednesday to mark the start of the building of a nuclear power station in northern Bulgaria

* LUKoil and Gaz de France have signed a deal on the transfer of a 15% stake in an offshore prospecting project in Azerbaijan's Caspian Sea, the Russian oil company said

* Gazprom and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation plan to set up a joint venture, the Russian energy giant said