Main news of November 2

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger proposed that Russian experts take part in developing a European energy strategy until 2050

* NATO does not see Russia as an enemy, but as a partner of strategic importance, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said

* Warsaw has withdrawn its veto on Minsk's participation in the Northern Dimension Partnership for Transport and Logistics (NDPTL), Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said

* Greek media reported that a bomb had exploded at the Russian Embassy in Athens

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sparked a high-profile Russian-Japanese diplomatic row after visiting the disputed Kunashir Island

* Russia will not recall its ambassador to Japan following a diplomatic row over the disputed Kuril Islands, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* The nephew of ousted Kyrgyz leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been sentenced to ten years in prison for instigating the violence that erupted between Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks in June, a judge said

* The United States backs Japan in its dispute with Russia over the Kuril Islands and keeps on calling on both countries to reach a compromise, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of State said

RUSSIA

* The Russian Supreme Court's appeals board confirmed the legality of the court's refusal to consider complaints filed by two Muscovites against the dismissal of former mayor Yury Luzhkov

* The Moscow city government has given permission for a number of rallies to go ahead in the capital on Thursday - National Unity Day - the mayor's office said in a statement

* New charges could be filed against former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev, their lawyers said

* Russia has started deliveries of small arms and ammunition to Afghanistan under a military assistance program

BUSINESS

* The World Bank has increased Russia's 2010 consumer price inflation forecast to 8-9 percent from 7-8 percent, due to rising liquidity and food prices, the bank said

ENVIRONMENT

* Russia plans to allocate some 6 billion rubles ($195 million) for research in Antarctica up to 2013, the head of Russia's meteorological service said