Main News of November 3

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

RUSSIA

Moscow prosecutors have begun an investigation into the opposition Left Front party over possible extremism, its leader Sergei Udaltsov said on his Twitter blog

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin called for a merger of two of Russia's leading small-arms makers, Izhmash and Izhmekh, under the Kalashnikov brand.

Russia’s Right Cause opposition party is preparing to take a fresh political course next week that could see it adopt a new name, ideology, and place in Russian politics, its leader said at a party congress.

Metals oligarch-turned political figure Mikhail Prokhorov posted a blog entry slamming Friday’s raid on a controversial drug-rehab facility as an attempt by the local authorities to neutralize popular rivals.

Google and YouTube will receive updates regarding information banned within Russia, the country's communications oversight agency said.

The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia urged Russians not to abandon their traditional spiritual values, and warned against a return to the “Time of Troubles.”

Two satellites launched earlier today have successfully reached orbit, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos confirmed.

Thieves wearing surgical masks broke into a high-tech institute in Moscow and stole nearly 7 million rubles, or over $200,000, from ATMs on the premises, the police said.

 

WORLD

Syrian Army tanks entered the demilitarized Golan Heights buffer zone on the border with Israel for the first time in 40 years, prompting Israel to send an official protest to UN observers.

The New York City Marathon has been canceled in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem has threatened to close its doors to pilgrims and tourists as its bank account has been frozen over an accumulated debt for water supplies.

A task force from Russia’s Pacific Fleet, led by the Udaloy class destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov, has departed on an new anti-piracy mission off the Somali coast, the fleet’s spokesman Capt. 1st Rank Roman Martov said.

 

SPORT

The ATP Finals draw threw up a rematch of the U.S. Open final as Andy Murray was placed in the same group as world No. 2 Novak Djokovic for the season-ender in London.

Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz stunned France’s Gilles Simon to reach his first ATP Tour final at the Paris Masters.