Reaching a speed of 416.6 km per hour, a new high-speed train linking Shanghai and Hangzhou set a fresh world record of train speed during its trial operation on Tuesday morning; Kazinform refers to China Daily.

At an average speed of 350 km per hour, the high-speed train is expected to cut in half the existing travel time to 40 minutes to cover the 202-km journey between the two cities.

The train connecting Shanghai and Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, is expec...

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree firing powerful Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, Russian media say; Kazinform refers to BBC. They quote the presidential press service as saying that Mr Luzhkov, 74, was removed because he had lost the president's trust. In recent weeks Mr Luzhkov - who has been in office since 1992 - had faced harsh criticism from the Kremlin.

The move follows weeks of speculation that Mr Luzhkov would be be forced out after disagreements with the presi...

BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) on Monday unveiled a tablet computer named BlackBerry PlayBook, which is seen as the company's answer to Apple Inc.'s iPad; Kazinform refers to Xinhua. The PlayBook is expected to be available in the United States in early 2011 and later roll out in other international markets, RIM said while introducing the tablet at its annual developers' conference held in San Francisco.

RIM's PlayBook features a seven...

Chinese President Hu Jintao held talks with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev here Monday morning, to discuss ways to enhance bilateral ties and coordination on international affairs; Kazinform refers to Xinhua. "This visit is a major event in China-Russia ties of this year," Hu said during the talks.

Hu said he was convinced that Medvedev's visit will deepen bilateral strategic exchanges and practical cooperation in all areas, and will play an i...

A US-trained Pakistani scientist convicted of trying to kill US agents and military officers in Afghanistan was sentenced Thursday to 86 years in prison; Kainform refers to Arab News. The harsh sentence drew condemnation from Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia. who called it outrageous.

Aafia Siddiqui, 38, was sentenced in US District Court in Manhattan by Judge Richard M. Berman, who said "significant incarceration is appropriate."

"Don't get ang...

For the first time in the history of the International Space Station (ISS) the Soyuz spacecraft failed to undock on time on Friday; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass. The Russian Mission Control center said "an irregular situation occurred" and some commands were not fulfilled for technical reasons.

Soyuz TMA-18 spaceship with Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Korniyenko and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson was scheduled to un

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Draft agreement of free trade zone is the most important topic on the agenda of the regular sitting of CIS Prime Ministers' Council planned for November 19 in Saint Petersburg. The necessity to improve legal framework of interstate trade relations became topical due to the intention of some Commonwealth states to join the World Trade Organization and establishment of the Customs Union. "We hope that the draft agreement will be adopted in the first hal

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A Palestinian official on Wednesday welcomed an international call on Israel to extend a temporary moratorium on Jewish settlement constructions to keep fresh peace talks going on; Kazinform refers to Xinhua. Ghassan Al-Shak'a, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)'s Executive Committee also demanded the Quartet of Middle East peace mediators to play a bigger "active role in pressuring Israel."

The Quartet's call "is we

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World leaders at the UN high-level meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on Tuesday voiced their determination to fulfill the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by its deadline of 2015; Kazinform refers to Xinhua. At the high-level meeting, which entered its second day on Tuesday, one speaker after another took the floor to express their varying views on how to eradicate poverty, the lead objective of the eight goals. Some saw progress, some saw regression,

...

In its first day on sale in Moscow, at least 2,000 iPhone 4 handsets were sold despite shortages and online leaks; Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti. The smartphone went on sale in the Svyaznoy retail chain at 00:01 on Wednesday despite the official Moscow release being scheduled for Friday, September 24. Svyasnoy did not get a green light from Apple to begin sales, a source close to the company said.

Other retailers had to follow Svyaznoy. "Our decision to b...

The announcements of the 2010 Nobel prize decisions were set to be in early October as usual, according to the prize awarding institutions; Kazinform refers to Xinhua. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute said Tuesday that the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2010 will be announced on Oct. 4 in Nobel Forum in Karolinska Institute.

The announcing time will be at 11:30 a.m. at the earliest, the Assembly said in a statement.

The Roya

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France is on heightened alert for possible terror attacks after intelligence suggested public places could be targeted, officials have said; Kazinform refers to BBC. The officials, who spoke anonymously, said one tip-off suggested a female suicide bomber was planning to attack the transport system. Without confirming the reports, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said "the terrorism threat is real".

He said the alert level was unchanged at "red&qu...

Turkmenistan will push forward the creation of a new UN body to monitore energy supplies, the country's president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, said during a meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York. Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti. The Turkmen delegation is planning to propose a draft resolution on the establishment of a working group to develop an international mechanism for stable energy supplies, the president said. The proposal stipulates that a UN Energy Council should be subsequen

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Turkmenistan will push forward the creation of a new UN body to monitore energy supplies, the country's president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, said during a meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The Turkmen delegation is planning to propose a draft resolution on the establishment of a working group to develop an international mechanism for stable energy supplies, the president said. The proposal stipulates that a UN Energy Council should be subsequently created to monitor energy...

U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva on the sidelines of the 65th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Obama's senior foreign policy advisor has said.

Obama will travel to New York late on Wednesday and will deliver a speech at the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit on the same day, Ben Rhodes told reporters in Washington.

On Thursday, Obama will address the General Assembly. The main issues of the president's speech are the

...

The South Korean government is considering building undersea tunnel links with China and Japan, a spokesman at the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said on Tuesday.

"At this stage, we are studying the economic and technical feasibility (of building undersea tunnels)," the spokesman told Reuters by telephone, adding that the results of the study were expected later this year.

Earlier, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that proposals included a route con

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The three-day rally of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) or red-shirt movement to mark the 2006 coup and the fourth-month anniversary of 19 May bloodshed dispersal started early morning on Friday, September 17 with flower laying activity in front of Bangkok Remand prison in Bangkok; Kazinform refers to Xinhua. Red-shirts across the country place red roses in front of prisons nationwide in a bid to express best wishes to and call for the release of 252 red-shirts includ

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 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will open a cultural center in Beijing during his official visit to China later in September, the Russian ambassador to China said on Monday. Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti. "The [cultural] center's activity will be aimed at developing cooperation in the humanitarian sphere, at raising awareness of Russia's innovative development, and at demonstrating our achievements in the fields of culture, science and sport," Sergei R

[/cultural]...

Astana will become the capital of the Turkic world of 2012. President of Turkey Abdullah Gül said it at a press conference upon the completion of the Summit of Turkic-speaking countries. 'The decision on establishing the Turkic Business Council was reached at the Summit. The activity of the Council will be aimed at expanding economic and trade relations. The establishment of the Fund in Baku is aimed at preserving Turkic culture as well as the TURKSOY declared Astana the capital of

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A regular sitting of the Council of Ministers of Internal Affairs of the CIS member countries to be held on September 17 in St. Petersburg, the press service of Executive Committee of the CIS informs. The topic to discuss will be combating terrorism, human trafficking, interaction with the Interpol and ensuring human rights. The minister will also discuss the issue on establishing common database of fingerprints, communication systems, etc.

It should b

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Russia will have to overhaul the whole production and manufacturing system of its troubled Bulava ballistic missile if this autumn's tests fail again, the defense minister said on Friday. Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti. Anatoly Serdyukov said that if failures continue and their causes prove to be different, "then we will have to overhaul the whole system of production and [manufacture] control of these missiles."

The Bulava (SS-NX-30), a three-stage liquid and solid-propell[/manufacture]...

Russia will give 20-million-dollar free aid to Kyrgyzstan EMERCOM, an official in the press service of the Kyrgyz Head of State told Itar-Tass on Thursday; Kazinform refers to ITAR-TASS. The press service official said, "Special-purpose machinery -- 40 trucks -- will be delivered to Kyrgyzstan from Russia through EMERCOM soon. It is planned that technical assistance worth $20 million will be rendered before the end of this year".

Such an accord has bee...

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has proposed to hold military talks with South Korea, Yonhap news agency quoted military authorities in the South as reporting on Thursday; Kazinform refers to Xinhua. Pyongyang Wednesday suggested the working-level talks via a military communications line at the border truce village of Panmunjom, according to Yonhap. In a related development, on September 8, the DPRK released the South Korean fishing boat "Daeseung 55" and its crewmembers t

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Kazakh President is expected to arrive in Istanbul for participation in the 10th Summit of Turkic speaking states today.

The Summit will be held in the Çırağan Palace. Nursultan Nazarbayev (Kazakhstan), Ilham Aliyev (Azerbaijan), Abdullah Gul (Turkey), Roza Otunbayeva (Kyrgyzstan), Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow (Turkmenistan) will take part in the summit.

Following the results of the Summit there will be adopted a declaration.

Source: ...

Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, has left a dry dock after scheduled repairs and is getting ready for a training mission in the Barents Sea, the Northern Fleet said in a statement.

"The Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier will sail to the Barents Sea at the end of September on a training mission relevant to its main purpose," the statement said.

The warship was assigned to the Northern Fleet in January 1991. It is capable of carrying 26 Su-33 Flanker-...

The French parliament finally passed Tuesday a bill to prevent women from wearing face-to-toe veil covering whole body in public spaces across the country.

French Senate voted 246 to one to approve the burqa ban bill. France now reside 5 million Muslims, ranking as the largest Islamic community in European Union.

Women who violate the ban and insist putting full-face-covering veil in administrations, hospitals and parks risk to be fined 150 euros (about 195 U.S. dollars) or take ci...

Australia's first elected female leader Julia Gillard on Tuesday sworn in as prime minister at Government House in Canberra; Kazinform refers to China Daily.

Gillard was joined by partner Tim Mathieson, and some of her front-bench colleagues including Treasurer Wayne Swan.

"I, Julia Eileen Gillard, do solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that I will loyally serve the Commonwealth of Australia in the office of prime minister," Gillard said in Canberra on Tuesday.
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The president of Kazakhstan is expected to discuss with his Ukrainian counterpart on Tuesday the resumption of Kazakh oil transit via Ukraine to Europe.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev begins on Tuesday his two-day official visit to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and although the issue of oil transit was not included in the official agenda of the visit, this information was earlier confirmed by the Kazakh ambassador to Ukraine and later by Ukraine's Fuel and Energy Ministry.

L...

U.S.-Kazakhstan pair Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova saved a match point to win the U.S. Open women's doubles title through a third-set tiebreaker on Monday.

King and Shvedova, seeded sixth, beat second-seeded Liezel Huber of the United States and Nadia Petrova of Russia 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4).

The match had been postponed in the third set on Sunday due to drizzle as Huber and Petrova led 5-4 in the other pair's turn to serve.

When the match resumed with King serving in the ten...

Russian Technologies state-run corporation plans to build Russia's first biofuel processing plant next spring, the corporation's chief, Sergei Chemezov, briefed President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday; Kazinform refers to ITAR-TASS.

"The issue that will be on high demand is biotechnologies. We will turn wood, wood chips and other timber byproducts into biobutanol that is necessary for creating new modern fuel," he said.

The plant will be built in the town of Tulun, the Irk

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