Morning re-cap of main news, December 16
* President Vladimir Putin said Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov would come to Moscow Monday to discuss energy issues with his Russian counterpart, Mikhail Fradkov
// Dec. 17, 2005 - 07:29 GMT
Russia wraps up WTO talks with Nicaragua, Paraguay
HONG KONG, December 17 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has signed protocols on the completion of the WTO accession talks with Nicaragua and Paraguay at the sixth WTO Ministerial conference in Hong Kong Saturday. Russia still had not completed talks with the U.S., Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Colombia.
// Dec. 17, 2005 - 07:43 GMT
Toxic slick approaches Amur
TONGJIANG (China), December 17 (RIA Novosti, Alexei Yefimov) – A slick of highly toxic chemicals from an industrial accident in China has approached the Amur River, a senior official of the environment monitoring center of the Heilongjiang province said Saturday.
// Dec. 17, 2005 - 08:08 GMT
Vice speaker of Chechen parliament injured in car accident
GROZNY, December 17 (RIA Novosti) – A deputy speaker of the Chechen People's Assembly, the lower house of the newly elected parliament, was injured in a car accident and is in a serious condition, a doctor at the Gudermes hospital said Saturday.
// Dec. 17, 2005 - 08:25 GMT
OSCE mission head in Moldova dissatisfied with Transdnestr talks
CHISINAU, December 17 (RIA Novosti, Vladimir Novosadyuk) – The head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's mission in Moldova said he was dissatisfied with the results of the talks on the Transdnestr conflict resolution.
// Dec. 17, 2005 - 08:54 GMT
1 Killed, 2 Injured in Russian Nuclear Plant Accident
Molten metal splashing from a smelter at a Russian nuclear plant killed one worker and severely burned two others, but no nuclear reactors were affected.
// Dec. 17, 2005 - 09:08 GMT
China Builds Dam to Shield Russia From Toxic Spill
China is damming a waterway in its northeast in an effort to reduce the impact of a river-borne toxic spill flowing toward a city in Russia's Far East, the government said Saturday.
// Dec. 17, 2005 - 09:14 GMT
Russia's Putin Rejects Renaming Chechen Capital In Kadyrov's Honor
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday poured cold water on a proposal to rename Chechnya's ruined capital in honor of an assassinated pro-Kremlin leader. Earlier Chechen lawmakers voted to change the name of Grozny to Akhmadkala in memory of Akhmad Kadyrov, who was killed by a rebel bomb in 2004.
// Dec. 17, 2005 - 09:28 GMT
Al-Qaeda Leader Killed in Southern Russia
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Friday an al-Qaeda leader had been killed by Russian forces in the country's southern region.
// Dec. 17, 2005 - 09:32 GMT