Main news of October 30

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Ukraine has denied a remark by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday that Ukraine is again having difficulty paying for Russian natural gas supplies and the EU is not going to lend Kiev money to solve the problems

* Moscow has offered Kiev assistance in curbing the spread of swine flu, the Russian foreign minister told his Ukrainian counterpart by telephone

* The world's largest cruise liner has begun her maiden voyage after leaving Finland on Friday

* Sixteen Georgian nationals detained earlier this week for illegally crossing the border into the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia were released without any preconditions

* France demands Iran immediately provide an official response to a package of proposals on nuclear fuel supplies for the Tehran research reactor, the French Foreign Ministry said

* More than 5,700 people have died from swine flu worldwide, with the total number of officially confirmed cases exceeding 440,000, as of October 25, the World Health Organization reported

* Representatives of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the country's de facto leader Roberto Micheletti agreed a deal that could pave the way for Zelaya's reinstatement, CNN reported

* EU leaders agreed on Thursday to demands from the Czech president in return for the country's ratification of the ambitious EU reform treaty, the Swedish prime minister has announced

RUSSIA

* Russia commemorated on Friday tens of millions of victims to political repression in the 1930s-1950s orchestrated by Joseph Stalin

* Ukraine is again having difficulty paying for Russian natural gas supplies and the EU is not going to lend Kiev money to solve the problems, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

* RIA Novosti on Friday strongly denied allegations it had teamed up with a Western PR company "to justify Russia's great power ambitions and improve the image of Joseph Stalin"

* There are 23 Russian, two Philippine and two Ghana nationals on board a Thailand-flagged fishing vessel hijacked off the Seychelles, an International Transport Workers' Federation official said

* All the crewmembers of the cargo ship at the center of a mysterious hijacking case have been formally recognized as victims of pirate attack, Russia's special investigations committee said

BUSINESS

* Russia's Gazprom and Poland's PGNiG have agreed to extend their natural gas contract until 2037 with an increase in supplies, the companies said