Main news of September 2

RUSSIA

* An international book fair opened in Moscow with nationwide sales on the rise despite the ongoing economic slump

* Georgian border guards refused to let in two Russian journalists, who were travelling as part of a delegation representing a public commission on the consequences of last year's Russia-Georgia conflict

 

WORLD

* At least 23 people were killed and some 50 others seriously wounded in a suicide bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan's Laghman province, local governor Latifulla Mashal said

* The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck off the coast of the Indonesian island of Java on Wednesday has climbed to 34, national media reported, citing the health ministry

* Afghanistan's incumbent leader Hamid Karzai has strengthened his lead in the ongoing vote count following the August 20 presidential election, the country's electoral authorities said

* The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has said that the international threat from Iran's controversial nuclear program has been exaggerated

* Moldova's acting president Vladimir Voronin formally resigned to become a member of parliament, after strongly criticizing the incoming leadership

* Israeli authorities released nine Hamas lawmakers, a Hamas legislator in the West Bank said

* Israeli and Palestinian ministers held their first talks since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power in March, the Kol Israel radio station reported

* International talks on Iran's controversial nuclear program due in Germany on Wednesday are unlikely to bring any new solutions, a senior Russian expert said

* British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said his country did not sign any secret deals with Libya for the release of the man convicted of organizing the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing

* A Thai court refused to release alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout on bail and under guarantees from his lawyer and Russian diplomats

* South and North Korea restarted a joint military hotline more than a year after Pyongyang cut it off, the Yonhap news agency reported

* Abkhazia's president has ordered that force be used against Georgian vessels violating the former Georgian republic's maritime border, the Abkhazian foreign minister said

* Georgia's deputy prime minister dismissed the Abkhazian president's order to fire upon any Georgian ship violating the maritime border of Abkhazia as a "pre-election bluff"

* Two U.S. astronauts from the current STS-128 space mission to the International Space Station (ISS) have successfully completed their first spacewalk removing a heavy ammonia tank from the cooling system

 

BUSINESS

* A $260 mln Russian-Indian project to build a titanium factory in east India has been endangered by a shareholder conflict, the Indian partner in the undertaking said

* Russia's crude oil output increased 0.4%, year-on-year, in January-August 2009 to 326.65 million metric tons (2.4 billion barrels), the Energy Ministry said