* At least 32 people died in a coal mine fire in central Kazakhstan, the Web site of President Nursultan Nazarbayev said
* Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, and the European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, will hold talks on Iran's nuclear program next week, Iran's National Security Council said
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there was every chance for a resumption of talks on the Iranian nuclear problem to be held on terms acceptable for all parties
* Aeroflot Russian Airlines said it had decided to buy planes from both Boeing and Airbus
* Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said:
- a Russian combat engineer battalion would start work in Lebanon in early October
- expenditures on combat training in the Russian Armed Forces were projected to grow by 23% in 2007
- Russia will sell Uzbekistan arms and military hardware at domestic prices after it completes legal formalities to join the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a post-Soviet security grouping
* Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's first deputy prime minister, tipped to become Vladimir Putin's successor as president, said he took media speculation about his possible presidency in his stride
* The activities of offices and affiliates of foreign non-governmental organizations operating in Russia who fail to submit documents detailing their work by October 18 will be suspended, the Federal Registration Service said
* Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said Russia would not be able to settle all its Soviet-era debts before the end of 2006
* Russian Ambassador to Japan Alexander Losyukov sought to defuse a potential conflict with Tokyo over the fate of the Sakhalin II energy project, saying Moscow had no intention of closing it down over claims of environmental damage
* The Russian Supreme Court upheld a 22-year sentence handed down to a man in his early thirties for organizing a fatal bombing of a Moscow McDonald's restaurant in 2002
* Mosenergo, Russia's largest regional power generating company, said an additional share issue, worth up to $2.1 billion, would go to Gazprombank, a subsidiary of energy giant Gazprom
* The United Aircraft Building Corporation (UABC) is likely to be registered by the end of September 2006, said Boris Alyoshin, the head of the Russian Federal Agency for Industry
* Inflation in Russia totaled 7.2% as of September 18, Alexei Ulyukayev, the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank said, citing the State Statistics Service
* Azerbaijan could halve imports of Russian natural gas in 2007 if Gazprom raises its prices, a senior official with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan said
* The Russian Soyuz-TMA spacecraft successfully docked in automatic mode with the International Space Station
* The United States government has given four An-2 Colt transport aircraft to Kyrgyzstan to tighten its border control, the Central Asian state's Defense Ministry said
