WORLD
* In an effort to combat the rise of jihadists in the Muslim world following the Arab Spring, the US Pentagon and State Department are speeding up efforts to help the Libyan government create an elite commando force, the New York Times reported
* US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is making it clear that she thinks she – and not the White House – is responsible for the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans
* Belarus may stop intercepting illegal migrants and smuggling, including drugs, bound for Europe in retribution for the European Union’s sanctions against Minsk, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said
* US President Barack Obama has a chance Tuesday night to do something he did not do much of during his first debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney: convince undecided Americans to vote for him
* Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the Georgian Dream coalition that won in the country’s October 1 parliamentary elections, presented the final list of candidates to the key posts in the new government
* Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has begun his defense against allegations of war crimes at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague
RUSSIA
* Belarus hopes that Russia will help it modernize its military in order to protect Russia’s own Western borders, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said
* Russian police and interior troops have killed more than 300 militants, including 43 warlords, in the North Caucasus over the past few months, President Vladimir Putin said
BUSINESS
* Move over Smart Car and Fiat. There’s a new mini-car that could be rolling onto the United States automotive market within three years
* In a surprising move that has shocked Wall Street, the chief executive officer of Citigroup Inc., resigned, just one day after America’s third largest bank posted surprisingly strong quarterly earnings
* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed Russian big business had offered a $5 billion bribe for selling the national potash producer Belaruskali below its real value
* Russia may give foreign low-cost airlines access to domestic routes for the first time, to develop internal competition and cut air ticket prices, the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) said
* India is cutting its order for a fifth-generation stealth fighter being developed jointly with Russia by a third, India’s Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne told India Strategic
SPORTS
* Igor Akinfeev set an all-time record for a Russia or Soviet Union national team goalkeeper of playing 654 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal
* Russia scraped a 1-0 home win over Azerbaijan as Fabio Capello’s side maintained their perfect start to World Cup 2014 qualification