Main news of September 18

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* About one third of Afghanistan's eligible voters came to polling stations to elect a new parliament

* A Palestinian negotiator said the Palestinian authorities were not going to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, a move which would cripple the peace process between the two nations

 

* Ukraine is ready to set up a number of joint ventures with Russia in various areas of cooperation, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said

* Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussed a number of issues of mutual interest during a brief meeting at Damascus Airport

*Serbia is planning to become the first European country to begin constructing an onshore section of the South Stream gas pipeline, designed to transport Russian gas to western Europe, by the end of 2012, the head of the country's state-run Srbijagas company said

*Four servicemen were injured when two artillery shells exploded on board a Ukrainian warship during military drills off the Crimean Peninsula

 

RUSSIA

* Representatives of the Afghan diaspora in Moscow filed a complaint to the Russian Public Chamber, claiming they had no opportunity to take part in the Afghan general elections

* Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, whose possible dismissal has lately been in the center of Russian media attention, said he was not going to leave the office until there were "real grounds" for this