Main news of October 21

RUSSIA  

* Russia's government will take additional measures to support the country's economy, primarily its non-financial sector, amid the ongoing global credit crunch, a presidential aide said

* Russia will complete the setting up of military bases in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2009, the chief of the Russian General Staff

* The Russia-NATO Council may resume its work by the end of this year, a senior Russian military official said

* Russia will grant Belarus a $2 billion stabilization loan in 2008-2009, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said  

* Five police officers were killed and 9 injured in clashes with militants near Makhachkala, the capital of the North Caucasus republic of Daghestan, police said

* Russia is expecting to increase its arms exports to $8 billion in 2008, a senior government official said

*  A new air carrier, Russian Airlines, could be officially registered by November 11, 2008, the head of the Russian Technology state-run corporation told the press

* A former executive of the now defunct Yukos oil company has pleaded guilty to embezzlement and tax evasion and requested to be pardoned, her lawyer said

* Russian investigators decided to release former Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak, accused of embezzling state funds, from custody on a pledge not to leave the country

* Russia is currently not involved in talks with Ukraine over the purchase of an unfinished missile cruiser for the Russian Navy, Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said

WORLD

* The Ukrainian president's decision to suspend the dissolution of parliament so lawmakers can amend the 2008 and 2009 budgets to respond to the country's financial crisis came into force

* Georgia's Foreign Ministry has accused Russia of reneging on its ceasefire obligations and continuing "military provocations," the Novosti Georgia news agency reported

* North Korea wants to oust Japan from the six-party negotiations on the North's nuclear disarmament over Tokyo's failure to fulfill its pledge to provide fuel aid, an official government newspaper said

* Warring Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, agreed to accept Egyptian mediators' proposals as a basis for the formation of a unity government

* John McCain's campaign has taken a brief time out from pushing his case to be the next U.S. president to admit a mistake - sending a letter to Russia's UN envoy soliciting donations

* The Belarus president said that the country's armed forces had "risen from its knees"

* Latvia is to give Georgia $700,000 to aid reconstruction efforts in the wake of its recent war with Russia, the Latvian foreign minister said

* Heavy storms and flash floods continue to wreck havoc in southern Morocco, with the death toll from the most powerful storms to hit the region in decades at 21 since mid-October, local officials said

* A 24-hour nationwide strike caused chaos across Greece as all flights to and from the country were cancelled and public services shut down

* Senior members of Britain's opposition Conservative Party solicited Russia's richest man Oleg Deripaska this summer for a donation, a mutual acquaintance told The Times newspaper in a letter

* The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, has no plans to run in the country's 2009 presidential elections, he said in an interview  

BUSINESS

* Russia has offered Cuba assistance in renovating its transportation system, rebuilding its energy sector and acquiring a fleet of oil tankers, Russia's deputy minister of industry and trade said

* The average price of Russia's benchmark Urals blend will not fall below $70 per barrel in 2009 despite the ongoing global financial crisis, Russia's finance minister said

SPORTS

* Zenit St. Petersburg failed to get the three points that they desperately needed from their Champions League match against Belarusian underdogs BATE Borisov in Russia's second city