Main news of November 11

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

World

 

Mexican Secretary of the Interior Jose Francisco Blake Mora was killed in a helicopter crash while flying from Mexico City to nearby Cuernavaca, a government spokeswoman said.

Greece's new coalition government, led by former European Central Bank vice president Lucas Papademos, was sworn in.

The upper house of the Italian parliament, the senate, approved a draft austerity bill to slash public spending in a bid to head off its looming financial crisis and satisfy the bond markets and the EU.

The United States is not considering the possibility of sending convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout home to Russia, a U.S. Department of State official said.

Ukraine’s jailed ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko faces new embezzlement and fraud charges, the State Tax Service said.

 

Russia

 

Attempts during the night to receive a signal from the unmanned lander Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, which failed to reach its orbit after separating from the launch vehicle on November 9, have so far been to no avail, a source in the space industry said.

Defense lawyers for a Russian pilot convicted in Tajikistan appealed the eight and a half year sentence against him.

Tajikistan’s Migration Service denied reports that Russia is deporting Tajik migrant workers and warned against politicizing “natural socioeconomic problems.”

Russia's largest car maker AvtoVAZ plans to produce its first 100 ElLada electric cars in 2012, AvtoVAZ Vice President for Technical Development Yevgeny Shmelyov said.

Jean-Claude Van Damme says his much-awaited kickboxing showdown with Thai former Olympic champion Somrack Kamsing could go ahead in Chechnya.