Main news of April 16

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

Russia:

* Rescue workers are starting building a third water supply pipe at a Siberian coalmine where a deadly explosion killed at least 66 people last weekend, the press office of the regional emergencies department said

* The owners of Raspadskaya mine in the west Siberia where at least 66 miners were killed in an accident almost a week ago said the mine will be restored and all jobs will be saved

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia and Ukraine were not talking about Russia's energy giant Gazprom and Ukrainian Naftogaz merger, however consolidation of some assets is possible

* The speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament has arrived to Poland with an official visit and discussed in Warsaw organization issues of the Second Forum of the Russian and Polish regions which is due to be held

* The border guards in the Trans-Baikal area in south-east Siberia have seized a large batch of illegal Chinese imports, the press office of the regional border guard department said

 

World:

* There were no NATO sensitive data or devices on board the Polish president's plane that crashed in April near west Russia's Smolensk

* The speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament has arrived to Poland with an official visit and discussed in Warsaw organization issues of the Second Forum of the Russian and Polish regions which is due to be held

* A Kiev court on Sunday banned two opposition parties from holding rallies in the center of the Ukrainian capital on May 17, during the arrival of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Ukraine

* Israel has strongly criticized Russia's plans to supply arms to Syria, saying the move will not help efforts to bring peace to the Middle East, Kol Israel public radio station reported

* Iranian and Brazilian presidents, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have met in Teheran, however Iran avoided nuclear talks, Israeli Haaretz newspaper said

* A U.S. drone attack has killed at least 15 suspected militants in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border, local authorities said

* A total of 27 major Afghan drug traffickers have been sentenced to 18 years in prison each, Afghan drug justice center said

* Two North Korean patrol boats crossed into South Korean territorial waters  but retreated after receiving warnings from the South Korean Navy

* The U.K. will close a part of its airspace in the country's north on Sunday due to a fresh ash cloud from a volcano in Iceland, the U.K.'s leading air navigation services provider NATS reported

 

Business:

* Chile's billionaire president, Sebastian Pinera, has sold Chilevision television station, his last major asset, for an estimated $130 million, the Chilean media reported