Main news of January 22

RUSSIA

* An opinion poll said that the majority of Russians are in favor of the activities of the country's president, prime minister and government despite growing unemployment and a fall in the value of the ruble

* A Moscow military court adjourned on Thursday the trial of suspects in the murder of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya until February 2

* Russia's Yelena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced on Thursday to the 3rd round of the women's singles at the 2009 Australian Open, while Igor Andreev progressed in the men's singles

* Russians identify Metropolitan Kirill, the interim leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, is the most likely candidate to become the next patriarch, the Russian VTsIOM pollster said

* Eighteen miners have been hospitalized with poisoning after waste materials caught fire in a Urals mine, the Russian General Prosecutor's Office said

* The head of a private company has been shot dead by unknown assailants in northwest Moscow, a police source said

* A Roman Pavlyuchenko goal in the 118th minute of Tottenham Hotspur's Carling Cup semi-final tie against Burnley on Wednesday evening sent the London club through to a Wembley final against Manchester United

WORLD

* Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that Georgia's refusal to allow Russian inspectors access to military installations on its territory will have political consequences

* Russian gas supplies to Greece via Bulgaria have resumed, the Greek state-run gas company DEPA said

* Italy's Prime Minister said on Thursday that his country is prepared to send troops into the Gaza Strip devastated by Israel's three-week offensive to help tackle arms smuggling in the enclave

* Georgia has breached no international laws in buying weapons abroad, the country's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday in response to a Russian ban on arms sales to its South Caucasus neighbor

* The gas price of $450 per 1,000 cubic meters with a 20% discount agreed between Moscow and Kiev for 2009 is fair, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said

* The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg said on Thursday Russia is to pay some 250,000 euros ($326,000) having lost three cases involving the disappearance and death of Chechens between 2002 and 2004

* Georgia has refused to allow Russian experts access to military installations on its territory, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said

* A child was killed and four people injured in an Ankara neighborhood on Thursday as a four-storey residential building collapsed there, local media reported

* A Chinese court has sentenced two people to death and three others to life behind bars over last year's melamine-tainted milk scandal, the Xinhua news agency said

* Japanese rescuers have called off a search for a vessel with 12 Russian crew members onboard that sank off Japan's Hokkaido Island last month, a spokesman for the local rescue service said

BUSINESS

* Russia's international reserves rose to $397.5 billion on January 20 from $296.2 billion on January 16, the chairman of the country's Central Bank said

* Discussions on Russian nuclear fuel supplies to Ukrainian nuclear power plants in 2009 are nearing completion, Ukraine's deputy fuel and energy minister said

* Russia's state-controlled VTB Group said on Thursday its net profit calculated according to International Financial Reporting Standards fell 70% year-on-year in January-September to $316 million

* Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves declined by $30.3 billion, to $396.2 billion, in the week of January 9 - January 16, the Central Bank of Russia said