Main news of October 19

RUSSIA

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will discuss trade, energy and the South Caucasus situation with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan during a visit to Armenia October 20-21, a Kremlin source said

* Russian energy giant Gazprom expects its net profit to hit $30 billion in 2008 against 658 billion rubles ($25 billion) a year earlier, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said

* Three people were killed and another 34 injured in a passenger bus crash in the Krasnodar Region in southern Russia, the regional emergencies center said

WORLD

* U.S. and European leaders proposed a series of world summits to discuss measures to tackle the global financial crisis

* Taliban militants killed 31 passengers travelling in a bus from Kandahar to Kabul in Afghanistan, the country's Defense Ministry said

* BP could appoint Denis Morozov, the former head of Russia's metals giant Norilsk Nickel, as the new chief executive of the Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, The Sunday Times reported

* German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was selected by Social Democrats as the candidate to challenge Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel in next year's election

* Election officials in Azerbaijan confirmed incumbent President Ilham Aliyev's landslide victory in last week's elections, following a complete vote count

* A former vice mayor of Beijing was given a suspended death sentence for taking bribes, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported