* Russian heavyweight boxer Nikolai Valuyev retained his WBA title Saturday night by knocking out Jamaican challenger Owen Beck in the third round in Hanover, Germany

// Jun. 05, 2006 - 04:31 GMT

LIMA, June 5 (RIA Novosti) – Venezuela's president has dropped the heaviest hint yet that his country may be buy Russian-made fighters by saying warplanes could take to the skies during a July 5 military parade to celebrate Independence Day.

// Jun. 05, 2006 - 05:13 GMT

KHABAROVSK, June 5 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has asked China for information after a petrochemical plant fire in the border city of Harbin Saturday raised concerns that a toxic river spill last year might be repeated, a spokesman said.

// Jun. 05, 2006 - 05:43 GMT

Iran has allowed a leading dissident journalist to leave the country to receive a journalism award in Moscow. On Monday, he will collect the World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom award in Russia's capital.

// Jun. 05, 2006 - 05:55 GMT

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan denounced Saturday the slaying of a Russian diplomat by Iraqi insurgents and urged the released of four other kidnapped Russian diplomats.

// Jun. 05, 2006 - 05:55 GMT

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has asked parliament to urgently endorse the presence of foreign troops on Ukrainian territory for a multinational military exercise, a request that came amid a weeklong protest sparked by the arrival of a group of U.S. Marine reservists.

// Jun. 05, 2006 - 05:57 GMT

CHISINAU, June 5 (RIA Novosti) – A governmental delegation from Moldova will arrive in Moscow Monday for further talks over Russian natural gas supplies in the second half of 2006, the prime minister said.

// Jun. 05, 2006 - 05:58 GMT

The 59th World Newspaper Congress, 13th World Editors' Forum and Info Services Expo 2006 opens in Moscow on Monday. The Russian president Vladimir Putin is scheduled to greet the session.

// Jun. 05, 2006 - 06:18 GMT

Venezuela has received a shipment of 30,000 new Russian rifles, weeks after Washington restricted U.S. arms sales to Caracas over concerns about President Hugo Chavez's ties to Cuba and Iran.

// Jun. 05, 2006 - 06:19 GMT

Russia plans to invest part of its $71.5 billion Stabilization fund, which is accumulated from windfall oil revenues, in foreign equities, a senior economic adviser to President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday, June 4.

// Jun. 05, 2006 - 06:20 GMT