Main news of October 2

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

*Latvians go to the polls to vote in parliamentary elections

*Violent clashes between government forces and Islamist militants go on in Rasht district, some 30 kilometers east of Dushanbe

* At least 33 people were killed and 15 injured after two trains collided in central Indonesia

*The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has agreed a multi-billion loan to Ukraine, lauded an upswing in the country's economy

*The major goal of the recently restored Palestinian-Israeli peace talks is to "shore up the positions of the U.S. President Barrack Obama inside the country," the Iranian ISNA news agency quoted Syrian President Bashar Assad as saying

*The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has officially informed the Russian Consulate General on the detainment of four Russian citizens suspected of a large-scale banking fraud, a Russian vice consul said

RUSSIA

* Russia is currently increasing its combat potential in the Arctic with new ships and additional station sites, Navy Commander Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky said

* Russia's nuclear-powered icebreaking ship Rossiya set out on an Arctic expedition from the northern port of Murmansk

*An Antonov An-2 light plane with three crewmembers and eight passengers was discovered in Russia's south Siberian republic of Buryatia after it went missing on Friday, a spokesman for the regional emergencies ministry said

*Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has approved amendments to the country's budget code, the Kremlin's press-service said

* A wireless network based on the Wi-Fi and WiMAX technologies will soon appear within the Russian Army, Chief-of-Staff Lt. General Sergei Skokov said

*Workers uncovered ancient tombs with human remains in the basement of the building of the Rosstat state statistics service in downtown Moscow, a spokesman for the Moscow's police said.