Main news of June 28

RUSSIA

* Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told Russian lawmakers:

- Russia will continue for the near future to sell oil and gas to Belarus at subsidized rates to support the country's economy

- Federal budget revenue will account for about 16% of national GDP in 2009, and the same figure is expected in 2010-2012

- A crowd of Michael Jackson fans held a candlelit vigil outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow overnight, placing flowers and pictures by the wall

* Inflation in Russia will stay well below the projected 13% in 2009, and the country's monetary authorities are likely to further cut key interest rates amid slow consumer price growth, the Central Bank's chief said

* The president of the south Russian republic of Ingushetia, who was severely wounded in a recent assassination attempt, is showing signs of recovery, the leader's press secretary said

* Four militants and one soldier were killed in a nighttime shootout between militants and interior troops in Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Daghestan, a spokesman for the local interior ministry said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged the country's security forces to deal "an adequate blow" to the assassination attempt on Ingushetia's leader

 

WORLD

* Somali pirates have released a Belgian ship and its crew seized in April after a ransom was paid, Belgian authorities said, without specifying the ransom sum

* The U.K. foreign secretary voiced concern over the arrests of several Iranian employees at the British Embassy in Tehran, accused of involvement in recent post-election riots

* The body of a Muscovite tourist has been found weighed down by rocks in the sea near the resort town of Alupka in the Crimea, Ukraine's emergencies ministry said