Main news of November 4

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

 

WORLD

* The upcoming NATO Summit in Lisbon will allow NATO and Russia "to bury once and for all the ghosts of the past," alliance Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on his personal Facebook page

* U.S. President Barack Obama expressed hope that the Senate would ratify a new nuclear arms reduction agreement with Russia before the end of this year's congressional term

* EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said a new Russian-Polish gas deal was in line with EU legislation

* Death penalty in Belarus remains the main obstacle for cooperation between the European Union and the country, Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery and a Federal Minister for Special Affairs said

* Several Kyrgyz parties challenged in court results of the parliamentary elections in the ex-Soviet Central Asian republic, Kyrgyz Central Election Committee's chairman Akylbek Sariyev said

* The Ukrainian parliament confirmed President Viktor Yanukovych's nominee, Viktor Psonka, as the country's prosecutor general

* The Estonian government approved the transfer of 2.09 million kroons ($190,000) to repay a loan received from Latvia in 1989

* The final launch of the space shuttle Discovery was delayed for at least 24 hours due to weather conditions

* Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kanis said he intends to find a diplomatic solution to the territorial dispute with Russia

* Twenty EU member countries held the first pan-European cyber-security exercise Cyber Europe 2010

* The Japanese government will refrain from further actions of protest against Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's recent visit to the Kuril Islands, a senior government official said

RUSSIA

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been named the fourth most powerful person in the world by Forbes magazine

* First commercial Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) SN 95007 designed for Armenian Armavia airlines made its maiden flight, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company said

* Nine Russian defense companies will exhibit various types of sophisticated weaponry at an upcoming biennial arms exhibition in Indonesia, the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said

* Russia marks National Unity Day with Pro-Kremlin and opposition rallies and other public events across the country

SPORTS

* Roman Abramovich's Chelsea defeated Spartak Moscow 4-1 late on Wednesday for the second time in a row in 2010/11 Champions League

* Ukraine intends to build on hosting the Euro 2012 tournament by staging the finals of the Champions League and Europa League in subsequent years, a deputy prime minister said