Main news of July 9

WORLD

* UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that commitments made by the G8 industrial nations to tackle climate change did not go far enough

* A total of 336 people were injured and some 2,700 buildings damaged in a powerful earthquake that struck southwest China's Yunan Province on Thursday, the Xinhua news agency said

* China's Communist Party promised on Thursday to "severely punish" the instigators of recent deadly riots in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region

* The wreckage of the Air France airliner that crashed into the Atlantic on June 1 killing all 228 people on board has been sent to France for further analysis, the Radio France Internationale said

* Georgia's opposition has announced plans to extend protests against President Mikheil Saakashvili across the South Caucasus state, an opposition leader said

* Participants in the G8 summit in Italy have unanimously backed recent Russian and U.S. agreements to conclude a new strategic arms reduction deal by the end of the year, a Russian deputy foreign minister said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is cramming in bilateral meetings with other G8 leaders on the sidelines of their summit in Italy to discus Iran, North Korea and nuclear proliferation

* The Group of Eight nations have agreed a joint statement on Iran ‘deploring’ the crackdown on post-election protests but pledging to solve the Iranian nuclear dispute through dialogue, the French president said

* Leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations agreed to take joint measures to restore economic growth, improve financial supervision, and prevent tax fraud at their summit in Italy

RUSSIA

* Russia's Air Force chief dismissed on Thursday Georgian claims that Russia was spying on its territory using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

* Chechen warlord Magomed Yevloyev masterminded a recent attack on Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, the Chechen interior minister said

* The G8 has not yet become obsolete as a forum for the leaders of the world's most industrialized economies, Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said

* Russia welcomes a proposal to hold a second Group of Eight summit in the central Italian town of L'Aquila later this year, a Kremlin aide said

* Russia believes the EU has no legal grounds to unilaterally review conditions for issuing Schengen visas to Russian nationals, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said