Main News of September 28

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* The UN Security Council passed the draft resolution on Syria on Saturday, Moscow time, imposing binding obligations on the Syrian government for the first time since the unrest began in March 2011

* The UN Security Council resolution requiring Syria to eliminate its chemical weapon stockpiles precludes any use of force, Russia’s top diplomat said

* President Barack Obama warned that even a brief shutdown of the US government would hurt millions of people and lashed out at opponents he accused of “grandstanding” to subvert his landmark public healthcare law

* Iran will prepare a plan to break the deadlock in nuclear talks before its next meeting with the Iran Six group of mediators, due in mid-October, the Iranian leader said

* The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had approved its “historic” timetable for the elimination of Syria’s chemical stockpile on Saturday Moscow time, paving the way for a UN Security Council vote

* UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday Moscow time the international community aims to hold an international peace conference on Syria in mid-November, the UN News Centre said

* The UN chemical weapons inspection team in Syria may not be able to visit all sites of the alleged chemical weapons use in the country before its mission ends Monday, the team’s leader told RIA Novosti on Saturday, adding that a new inspection was possible

* Ninety two children and two women were rescued as Chinese police busted a “massive” human trafficking network in 11 provinces across the country, detaining 301 suspects, the Ministry of Public Security said.

* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Saturday the CEO of Russian fertilizer giant Uralkali, who was moved from jail to house arrest in Belarus this week, owes his release from custody to guarantees from his mother

* The US-based Human Rights Watch organization criticized Saturday the UN Security Council resolution requiring Syria to eliminate its chemical weapon stockpiles saying it has failed to deliver justice for the conflict's victims

RUSSIA

* Russia will actively use World Trade Organization mechanisms to uphold the interests of domestic producers who have suffered as a result of restrictions against them, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said

* The number of Russians who have a positive opinion about president Vladimir Putin dropped by 33 percentage points in the past five years, an opinion poll showed

* The director of a Far Eastern shipyard, where a nuclear submarine recently caught fire during maintenance operations, will lose his post next week

* Russia's investigators started Saturday inspecting the Greenpeace ship seized in the Arctic by the country's authorities last week, a spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee has said

* The Russian defense minister unveiled Russia’s wartime plan on Friday, saying that private and state companies should be ready to provide the Russian armed forces with everything they need in case of a military conflict

* Russia’s GDP in the first eight months of the year grew 1.5 percent year-on-year, but seasonally adjusted month-to-month growth was zero, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said

* Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday he expects inflation to be at around 4-5 percent at the end of 2014

* Experts from the world's chemical weapons watchdog will depart for Syria soon to inspect the country’s chemical weapon stockpiles, Russia’s foreign minister said