Main news of June 4

WORLD

* One Palestinian police officer and three Hamas militants were killed during a shootout in the West Bank, Fatah's news website reported

* A Russian deputy foreign minister called Thursday on Georgia's political elite to "moderate their geopolitical ambitions and start gradually normalizing relations with neighbors"

* The European Union has decided to send fact-finding missions to Moscow and Kiev to clear up the situation with natural gas supplies, a European Commission spokesman said

* President Barack Obama called for a new beginning in relations between the United States and the Muslim world at a long-awaited speech in Egypt on Thursday

* China issued an angry response on Thursday to U.S. comments on the 20th anniversary of the violent crackdown on Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests

* South Korea accused North Korea on Thursday of violating the western sea border between the countries, Seoul's Yonhap news agency reported

RUSSIA

* Russia is counting on effective cooperation with the new U.S. administration in WTO accession talks, a first deputy prime minister said

* Heavy rain and strong winds have left 65 people injured in central Russia, an emergencies ministry spokesman said

* The number of operational satellites in Russia's Glonass grouping has been increased to 17 while three more remain inactive, Russia's Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said

* The Russian president expects participants in the three-day International Economic Forum starting on Thursday in St. Petersburg to offer solutions for overcoming the economic crisis

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said he is ready to support economic sanctions to deter North Korea's nuclear program, and will discuss Pyongyang's nuclear test with his U.S. counterpart

BUSINESS

* Workers at a closed enterprise in Pikalyovo in northwestern Russia were paid over 41 million rubles ($1.3 million) of wage arrears in full following a visit to the town by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday, a spokeswoman for BasEl Cement said

* Russia's prime minister has instructed the government to provide a 25 billion ruble ($806 million) loan to support the ailing car giant AvtoVAZ, the government's website said

SPORT

* Svetlana Kuznetsova came through three tough sets against Australian Samantha Stosur at the French Open on Thursday to set up an all-Russian final with Dinara Safina

* Dinara Safina wobbled early on but eventually sailed through to the final of the French Open with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova in Paris on Thursday