Main news of September 25

A roundup of the past 24 hours

RUSSIA

* Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev voiced concern over Iran's revelations on a second uranium enrichment facility, and urged the country to provide reassurances over its nuclear program

* Memorial, a leading Russian human rights group, rejected a proposal from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov for an out-of-court settlement of his libel

* Plans at Russia's largest carmaker AvtoVAZ to cut its workforce to around 75,000 will probably go ahead in January-February 2010, the head of the company's trade union said

* All law-enforcement employees in Russia will have to declare their incomes from January 1 next year, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said

WORLD

* The UN nuclear watchdog confirmed that Tehran had informed it that Iran was building a second uranium enrichment plant, the revelation that is likely to further fuel tensions over the country's disputed nuclear program

* U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned Iran for the secret construction of its second uranium enrichment plant

* Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the Group of 20 rich and developing nations has become the world's main forum for coordinating global economic policy

* All members of the Group of 20 leading economies agreed at their summit in Pittsburgh to continue state support measures to prevent a deepening of the economic crisis, a Russian presidential economic aide said

* The Polish government is waiting for an official proposal from the U.S. on a new missile defense plan for the country, the government chief of staff said

* A total of five U.S. soldiers have been killed in three separate attacks in southern Afghanistan, a NATO press spokesperson said

* Moldova's parliament approved Vlad Filat, the leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, as prime minister of the ex-Soviet state

* At least 50 people died in a fierce fighting between government troops and Shiite militants in Saada Province, Saudi newspaper Al Watan reported

* Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro warned that the deployment of international security forces in Honduras embroiled in a political crisis, would wreak chaos across Latin America

* In an hour-long speech at the UN Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez said that the "smell of sulfur" had been replaced by "hope" in a sign of approval for U.S. President Barack Obama's policies