Main news of September 15

RUSSIA

* It would be "senseless" to try and pressure Russia by imposing sanctions on the country, the Russian president said during a meeting in Moscow with local businessmen

* Russia will sign cooperation agreements, which will have a military component, with Abkhazia and South Ossetia this week, President Dmitry Medvedev said

* Russia insists that OSCE and European Union observers be deployed in South Ossetia and Abkhazia as soon as possible, its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said

* Russia plans to sign a series of deals with Abkhazia to bolster the Georgian breakaway region as an independent state, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

* DNA tests to identify victims of the Sunday plane crash near the city of Perm in the Urals will begin in a Moscow forensic lab in the next few days, the head of the Federal Air Navigation Service said

* The black boxes from the plane that crashed near the Urals city of Perm killing 88 people will be decoded in three or four weeks, Russian Transportation Minister Igor Levitin said

* Aeroflot has so far paid over 4.8 million rubles ($186,770) in compensation to the families of those people killed in Sunday's air crash in the Urals, the head of the company's insurance department said

* Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said it will exhibit over 250 types of weaponry at a major arms exhibition in Cape Town this week

* Russia's Baltic Fleet has launched a week-long scheduled exercise, the navy press service said

* A naval task force from Russia's Pacific Fleet has started scheduled exercises involving live firing in the Sea of Japan, a fleet spokesman said

* NATO discussions with Georgia on the accession of the South Caucasus state to the military alliance only encourage Tbilisi to plan new military actions, a senior Russian lawmaker said

* Russia's Finance Ministry has set October 15 as a deadline for claims to exchange Soviet-era commercial debts for Eurobonds

* Russia could build up its presence in the Mediterranean to make up for the loss of its naval base in Ukraine's port of Sevastopol, a Black Sea Fleet official said

* Two Russian Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers that landed in Venezuela last week will carry out a patrol mission over the Caribbean on Monday, a Russian Air Force spokesman said

* Russian law enforcement officers have seized 107 kg (236 lbs) of heroin in the East Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, a spokeswoman for the local FSB department said

* The Russian TV company that airs South Park has seen its popularity rocket since prosecutors issued a warning over the content of the popular adult cartoon, the head of the company said

WORLD

* A proposal to hold an international investigation into last month's conflict in Georgia has been backed by the 27 EU foreign ministers, the French foreign minister said

*  The Georgian Foreign Ministry rejected a Russian report that Tbilisi had lost up to 3,000 men in the five-day war in August between the two countries over South Ossetia, calling the claim "disinformation."

* The European Union is ready to send a civilian observer mission to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but its deployment depends on the situation in the conflict zone, the EU's foreign policy chief said

* Iran has launched a three-day series of Air Force and missile defense exercises throughout the country, the Air Force commander said

* European foreign ministers said that sanctions against Belarus could be lifted if the country holds its September 28 parliamentary elections in a "democratic" fashion

* A massive relief operation is under way in Texas after damage and flooding brought by Hurricane Ike, and five people have died in the island city of Galveston, local media reported

* Afghanistan has had virtually no contact over the past year with a regional security group on the post-conflict settlement, the head of the Collective Security Treaty Organization said

* Kazakhstan and NATO have started joint exercises to evaluate the readiness of Kazakh peacekeepers to take part in NATO-led operations, the Kazakh Defense Ministry said

* At least 12 people including a Russian woman and five other foreign tourists were killed in Egypt when a tourist bus crashed head-on with a truck on a desert road, officials said

* At least 22 people were trampled to death in a stampede on the Indonesian island of Java, which broke out as a crowd of poor people waited to receive charity handouts, the national Antara agency said

* Three Chinese tourists have bought a 274-kg (604-lb) piece of depleted uranium and brought it home from Kyrgyzstan as a souvenir, the China Daily newspaper reported

BUSINESS

* Wall Street has begun to prepare itself for the bankruptcy of one of its most storied institutions - Lehman Brothers

SPORTS

* Russia continued its growing global dominance of women's tennis beating Spain in Madrid to win the Fed Cup champions title, the fourth time since 2004

* A second-minute goal by former Tottenham Hotspur player Sergei Rebrov was enough to give Rubin FC all three points in their top-of-the-table clash with Dynamo Moscow