Main news of October 16

RUSSIA

* A Russian shipyard said on Thursday it would complete the construction of the second of three missile frigates for the Indian Navy by March 2009

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed the governor of the Far Eastern Amur Region after a little more than a year in the post, the Kremlin press office said

* Russia's military spending will reach 1.3 trillion rubles ($50 billion) in 2009, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said

* Russia's prime minister has instructed the state nuclear corporation Rosatom to draw up a long-term plan for the development of the country's nuclear-powered ice-breaker fleet, a spokesman said

* The Parliamentary Assembly of the Russia-Belarus Union State approved the 2009 budget in its first reading in Moscow

* Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Alexy II will pay a visit to the Austrian capital on December 20-23, the Russian Church's representative in Europe announced

* The Helicopters of Russia holding will set up a joint venture in India to service Russian-made civil helicopters, a company official said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged the government Thursday to take whatever measures are necessary to maintain economic growth and keep the economy stable amid the ongoing global financial crisis

* Russian police detained a man in the Volga city of Nizhny Novgorod as he tried to destroy a monument to Vladimir Lenin, the father of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, a police spokesman said

* Over 200 applications have been lodged to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of South Ossetians in the last few days, head of the Moscow Human Rights Bureau said 

* A man who threatened to blow up a plane flying from Turkey to Russia on October 15 was described as a "temperamental poet" by Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda

* Abkhazian parliamentarians took part as observers during a session of the parliamentary assembly of the Russia-Belarus Union State of Russia in Moscow on Thursday, a parliamentary source said

* A volcanic eruption on the Kamchatka Peninsula sent clouds of smoke and ash into the air above Russia's Far East on Thursday, a scientist said, warning of dangers to local inhabitants and passing airplanes

* The board of the Chita District Court in East Siberia rejected Thursday an appeal against a lower court decision to deny parole to Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky

* Russia welcomes the establishment of diplomatic relations between Syria and Lebanon, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said

* Two people were injured in a grenade explosion outside a district court in Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Chechnya on Thursday, a local police source said

* Russian police are preparing to thwart plans by Georgian terrorists to unleash attacks in major Russian cities in retaliation against Moscow's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a Russian daily said

* Five people have been killed after a wooden house caught fire in the East Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, a police source said

* A total of 6.7 kg (14.7 lbs) of heroin has been seized in the Sverdlovsk Region in Russia's Urals, a police spokesman said

WORLD

* The incumbent Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev, has gained 89.04% of the vote in presidential elections, with some 70% of the ballot counted, the South Caucasus country's top election official said

* An international donor conference to raise funds to help rebuild Georgia's damaged infrastructure following a five-day conflict will be held in Brussels on October 22, the European Commission said

* A U.S. guided missile destroyer will dock Friday in the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti for a goodwill visit, the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi said

* In a major turnaround, Ukraine's prime minister said on Thursday she was ready to accept any conditions set by the president and his team to salvage the ruling coalition and avoid early parliamentary elections

* A UK newspaper group apologized Thursday to seven friends of Madeleine McCann's parents and agreed to pay them 375,000 pounds ($646,000) for articles saying they lied about the girl's disappearance

* Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is to undergo a course of medical treatment in Germany starting on Monday, the presidential press office said

* Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has approved state budget amendments to disburse funding for early parliamentary elections, the country's defense minister said

* Russian analysts say Democratic candidate Barack Obama is likely to defeat Republican rival John McCain in the United States presidential election set for November 4

* The speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament said on Thursday that Russia could resume a naval presence in Yemen

* Kazakhstan and Russia will soon conduct joint missile defense exercises involving elements of Russia's Space Forces, a senior Kazakh military official said

* Five Turkish servicemen have been killed in fighting with members of the armed wing of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeast Turkey, NTV reported

* North Korea threatened on Thursday to sever all relations with the South unless President Lee Myung-bak ends his "confrontational" policies

* Britain is still insisting that Russia hand over Andrei Lugovoi, accused by London of murdering intelligence defector Alexander Litvinenko in London in late 2006, the new U.K. ambassador to Russia said

* The leaders of the EU's 27 member states have supported plans for an international summit on the global financial crisis, current EU president Nicolas Sarkozy told journalists in Brussels

BUSINESS

* Russia's Federal Air Navigation Authority will postpone a threatened suspension of flights by nine regional air companies due to be introduced October 17 to allow passengers, who have already paid for tickets, to travel

* Crude oil fell below $70 on New York's stock exchange the NYMEX on Thursday after the U.S. said oil reserves had drastically increased prompting OPEC to call an emergency meeting for October 24

* Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service has demanded that Russia's seven largest oil companies reduce their prices for oil products, the service said

* President Dmitry Medvedev urged the Russian government Thursday to take drastic antitrust measures to curb high aircraft fuel prices

* Russia's leading stock exchange RTS finished trading on Thursday with its index showing big losses on negative news from global stock markets

* Russia's largest mining and metals company Mechel said on Thursday its coal output increased 54%, year-on-year, in January-September to 20.7 million metric tons

* Russia's environmental regulator will complete its inspection of a TNK-BP subsidiary's adherence to the Kovykta gas deposit license agreement by late October, the natural resources minister said

* Russian aluminum giant RusAl said on Thursday its primary aluminum output had increased 6.5%, year-on-year, in January-September to 3.3 million metric tons

* Russian private power companies have applied to the Russian government for $50 billion in loans, a business daily reported