Main News of January 16

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours.

WORLD

* Kyrgyzstan helicopters are delivering food and essential supplies to residents in three villages on the border with Uzbekistan which have been blockaded following a border incident earlier this month, the republic’s Emergencies Ministry said

* The Russian Antarctic Expedition refused to assist a daring British expedition in its attempt to make a first-ever winter expedition to the South Pole

RUSSIA

* A blind teenage girl reiterated her appeal to President Vladimir Putin to lift the ban on foreign adoptions

* A Russian court rejected a plea from a jailed member of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot to have her prison term deferred until her young son reaches adolescence

* A reputed top criminal kingpin was killed in a contract hit in Moscow, police said

BUSINESS

* Serbian Energy Minister Zorana Mihajlovic has reiterated that the price of imported Russian natural gas was too high considering the level of friendly relations between the two countries

* Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has visited small-arms maker Izhmash and discussed the prospects of the company’s merger with another leading small-arms manufacturer under the famed Kalashnikov brand

*Social media giant Facebook unveiled a new tool called Graph Search, that will allow users to conduct targeted searches for people, places, photos and interests on the site