Main news of October 31 Posted byRussian_Village October 31, 2011 Leave a comment on Main news of October 31 WORLD *The United States has cut off funding of UNESCO after the UN body supported Palestine’s accession bid *Israel refused to accept UNESCO’s decision to grant full membership to the Palestinian National Autonomy (PNA) and threatened retaliatory measures *Tehran has demanded that Washington officially apologize for accusing Iran’s intelligence service of plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States *Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou pledged on Monday to hold a referendum on whether Greece will accept the new aid package proposed by the EU in return for continued austerity measures in Greece. *The Canadian Parliament is considering a bill to make the so-called Magnitsky List, which blacklists persons allegedly linked to the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky from entering Canada, the Parliament said on its website. RUSSIA *Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich denied on Monday that a deal he reached with tycoon Boris Berezovsky back in 1995 envisaged a 50 percent division of shares in oil company Sibneft *All of the political parties taking part in elections to the Russian State Duma on December 4 will receive television air time, for the first time in recent years, a deputy chief of a state-run broadcaster said on Monday. *A court in the Chelyabinsk region on Monday ordered payment of three million rubles ($101,200) to two families each, whose children were accidentally switched at birth 12 years ago. *Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lashed out at the West for “double standards” in the way it treats public protests in Russia and at home. *As Western youths flock to Halloween parties dressed as ghosts, zombies and witches, opinion polls show most Russians will ignore the event, with only a few people planning to celebrate a holiday many Russian officials and religious authorities claim is “Satanic.”