WORLD
* The Russia-led post-Soviet EurAsEC alliance transferred the first $800 million tranche of an emergency loan to Belarus to stabilize its finances, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said
* Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is in good health and has started receiving visitors, the Saudi portal Al-Watan said, citing a Yemeni diplomatic source
* The Georgian opposition Labor Party strongly criticized the country’s president, Mikheil Saakashvili, for sending soldiers to Afghanistan following the killing of a ninth soldier by Taliban militants
* International political pressure needs to be put on Syrian authorities to end the bloodshed and solve the country’s domestic problems, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said
* The UN General Assembly confirmed Ban Ki-moon for a second five-year term as Secretary General
RUSSIA
* Forty-four people, including eight foreigners, were killed when a Tu-134 passenger aircraft crashed in Russia’s northwestern republic of Karelia, the Emergencies Ministry said
* Russia may ban German meat imports due to the spread of a highly virulent E.Coli infection in Germany and other European countries, Russia’s veterinary chief Nikolai Vlasov said
BUSINESS
* Russia’s Alliance Oil has reached agreement with Spain’s Repsol to set up a joint venture for oil production in Russia, a Russian business daily reported
* Russia’s Sukhoi Civil Aircraft and Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica will jointly develop a business jet based on the Sukhoi Superjet 100 airliner, the companies said at the 49th International Paris Air Show in Le Bourget
* Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot will buy eight Boeing 777 long-haul airliners under a firm contract signed between the two companies at the Le Bourget Air Show outside the French capital
* Russia’s state-run gas giant Gazprom and petrochemicals firm Sibur signed a letter of intent to build new refining capacities for gas extracted from the giant Kovykta field in East Siberia, Gazprom Deputy Board Chairman Alexander Ananenkov said
* Russia’s Sukhoi Civil Aircraft signed a contract with Indonesian PT Sky Aviation for the delivery of 12 Superjet 100 passenger aircraft, a deal worth $379.2 million
* Russian aircraft leasing company Ilyushin Finance Co., part of United Aircraft Corporation, and Ukraine’s Antonov aircraft maker signed a $300 million deal to supply 10 An-158 short-haul airliners to foreign customers
* The Russian gas giant Gazprom and Ukrainian national oil and gas company Naftogaz started setting up a joint venture to develop the Black Sea shelf, Naftogaz Board Chairman Yevhen Bakulin said