Main news of June 15

RUSSIA

* The global economic crisis has not been resolved, but it has prompted Russia to work harder to diversify its economy to avoid similar developments in the future, the Russian president said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview released that governing in partnership with his predecessor, current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, has proved effective

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev opened the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit with a focus on regional security and efforts against the global financial crisis

* Russia would like to expand sales of such warplanes as the Su-34 throughout the world, President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Chinese TV

* Russia has no plans to hold dialogue with Georgia's current regime, but would be ready to resume talks with a new leadership after elections, the Russian president said

* Russia will do everything possible for a modern political system to take root in Afghanistan, President Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting with his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai

* The volume of Russian arms exports in 2009 will exceed $8 billion, the head of Russia's delegation to the International Paris Air Show said

* Russia urges the UN Security Council to extend the UN monitoring mission on the border between Georgia and Abkhazia, the Foreign Ministry said ahead of the expiry of its mandate on Monday evening

* Russia's chief doctor Gennady Onishchenko said that the return of the Belarusian dairy products to the Russian market will take a significant amount of time

* Russia moved to heal a trade rift with Belarus, with the Foreign Ministry reaffirming its commitment to stronger ties and premier warning officials against harsh statements directed at Minsk

* The UN Security Council should be cautious in imposing sanctions against North Korea in connection with the recent nuclear tests, the speaker of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament said

* European, American and Japanese partners of Russia on the International Space Station may want the orbiter to continue its mission until at least 2025, the head of Russia's Space Agency said

* Sea trials of the Nerpa nuclear-propelled submarine, which was damaged in a fatal accident during previous tests, will resume in late June, the director of the Amur shipyard in Russia's Far East said

* Russia is in talks with France on a joint project to develop a heavy-lift helicopter and sell advanced artillery ammunition, the head of Russia's Federal Service for Military Cooperation said

* A Russian diplomat gave a cautious reaction to the Israeli premier's speech conceding the possibility of a Palestinian state, saying the conditions he had laid out would not help resolve the conflict

* Russian soprano Yekaterina Shcherbachenko has been named the BBC Singer of the World 2009 after winning the world's most prestigious operatic competition in Cardiff, the broadcaster said

* The creation of the Russian Arctic nature reserve could compensate for the damage to the dwindling polar bear population from global warming, the director of WWF-Russia said

* Two Russian mini-submarines descended on Monday into Siberia's Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake, as part of an ongoing research expedition

WORLD

* The Palestinian leadership has issued a resounding rejection of the Israeli prime minister's policy speech, in which he gave his first endorsement of the creation of a Palestinian state while setting stringent conditions

* Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin signed a decree dissolving parliament and setting early parliamentary elections for July 29, a spokesman said

* UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged that the will of the Iranian people expressed during Friday's presidential election be respected

* A group of seven countries formally submitted to the UN Security Council a draft resolution to extend the UN monitoring mission on the border between Georgia and Abkhazia

* A total of 39 Georgian opposition demonstrators were detained during a clash with police near the Interior Ministry, Deputy Interior Minister Eka Zguladze said

* The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said he welcomed the U.S. initiative to begin direct talks with Iran without any preconditions and on the basis of mutual respect

* A meeting of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) leaders in Yekaterinburg should lay the groundwork for a new level of cooperation between the countries, the Brazilian president said

* A man from Abkhazia's district of Gali has sown up his mouth and eyes and threatens to stitch his ears to protest a hit-and-run accident at a rally of refugees in Georgia

* Russia's new Superjet 100 passenger airliner made its first demonstration flight at Le Bourget 2009 air show in France

* Iran's Supreme Leader has ordered an inquiry into allegations by defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi that the elections were rigged, the national television reported

* The first human death in Europe as a result of swine flu has been registered in Scotland, local officials have announced

BUSINESS

* Russia's Irkut aircraft building corporation has agreed to supply 16 Yak-130 trainer/light attack jets to Algeria, the company's head said at the 2009 International Paris Air Show

* The TNK-BP board of directors has approved a $377 million increase in organic investment in 2009, the Russian-British joint oil venture said

*  Russia will increase oil export duty from the current $152.8 to $212.6 per metric ton from July 1, following trends on global oil markets, a senior official of the Finance Ministry said