Main news of November 21

RUSSIA

* Kamaz is considering setting up an assembly line to produce 500 trucks annually in Cuba, Russia's largest truck maker said

* The Russian Orthodox Church is not creating its own private army to help maintain order on the streets, a senior church official said

* Russia currently has around two billion tons of toxic waste on its territory, and there is no effective way to dispose of it, the Russian consumer rights regulator said

* Officers from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) seized over 60 kilograms (132 lbs) of cocaine during a search of two vessels at St. Petersburg's port, an FSB spokesman said

* U.S car giant General Motors (GM) and Russia's Avtotor opened on Friday the first phase of a car assembly facility to produce the Chevrolet Lacetti in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad

* The Moscow City Court acquitted on Friday two men suspected of involvement in the 2003 murder of the head of a Russian air defense manufacturer, the court's spokesperson said

* The reactor on Russia's newest strategic nuclear-powered submarine, the Yury Dolgoruky, was started up on Friday, a Sevmash shipyard spokesman said

* Russian nuclear power plant builder Atomstroyexport will by mid-December meet Turkey's request for further information on the company's bid to build a power plant, a senior company official said

* Prosecutors in Russia's Urals have brought criminal charges against a woman who knowingly sold meat from a sick horse, infecting the buyers with anthrax, a spokesman said

* A statue is to go up in honor of Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich after he won a poll carried out in Siberia to determine the person who best personifies "a real Englishman," Russian media said

* Russia will consider its Western partners' proposals on the U.S. missile defense plans for Europe only when they are legally formalized, the chief of the General Staff said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev began on Friday a seven-day tour of Portugal and four Latin American countries, during which he will attend an APEC summit, a presidential aide said

* Russia's lower house of parliament adopted in the second and third readings on Friday a law abolishing a state monopoly on platinum exports

* Spartak Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg are set for a no-holds-barred battle on Saturday as both sides look to take something from disappointing domestic seasons in the final weekend of the campaign

* Russia's lower house of parliament approved on Friday in the third and final reading the president's proposed amendments to increase the presidential and parliamentary terms to six and five years, respectively

* Russia's president urged the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to play a stronger role in ensuring global security and overcoming the financial crisis

* A pair of Russian Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers took off on Friday from the Engels airbase in southern Russia on a routine patrol flight over the Arctic Ocean, an Air Force spokesman said

* A mutual visa-free regime came into effect between Russia and Montenegro

WORLD

* Japan expressed hope on Friday that Moscow and Tokyo would be able to bring bilateral relations to a new level at the first meeting between the two countries' leaders, despite the long-standing territorial dispute

* Georgia's request to move the 2014 Winter Olympics from a resort in southern Russia has been rejected by the International Olympic Committee, a Russian deputy prime minister said

* France will sign a loan agreement with Georgia on November 24 to help the country repair a radar station near the capital, Tbilisi, the economics ministry said

* Lithuania will buy two minesweepers from the U.K. at a cost of 55 million euros ($70 million) which will be paid in installments up to 2011, the minister of national defense said

* The speaker of the lower house of the Czech parliament said on Friday that he doubted a U.S. missile defense radar would be deployed in the Czech Republic

* A U.S. warship will dock on November 22 in the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi for a goodwill visit, the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi said

* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko ordered the government on Friday to pay the country's debt to Russia for natural gas supplies within five days, Kiev's UNIAN news agency reported

* Poland is ready to wait patiently for the new U.S. administration to decide the fate of the planned U.S. missile defense shield in Central Europe, the foreign minister said

* Russia's Neustrashimy (Fearless) missile frigate is escorting an international convoy of nine vessels past the Horn of Africa to protect them from Somali pirate attacks, a Russian Navy spokesman said

* London's most prestigious auction houses will hold a series of Russian art sales on November 24-27

* People in Macedonia have planted nearly six million trees this week to compensate for environmental damage inflicted by recent forest fires, a government report said

* Somali pirates have released the Greek tanker Genius after receiving a ransom payment, Russia's Sovfracht maritime bulletin said

* Two U.S. astronauts completed without mishap on Thursday a 6 1/2 hour spacewalk to perform maintenance on the International Space Station, NASA Mission Control announced

BUSINESS

* Russia's state development bank Vnesheconombank has approved a further $2 billion to help Russian companies repay their foreign debts amid the global financial crisis, VEB said

* Gazprom Export, the export arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom, has extended a contract to supply natural gas to Slovakia until 2028, Gazprom and Slovensky plynarensky priemysel a.s. (SPP) said in a joint press release

* The global financial crisis could reach its climax within seven months, after which economic growth and capital inflow may resume in Russia, the World Bank's lead economist for Russia said