* A fire that broke out in a psychiatric and neurological clinic in the city of Taiga in the Kemerovo Region in Russia's southwestern Siberia killed nine and injured 15 people

// Dec. 11, 2006 - 05:33 GMT

HANOI, December 11 (RIA Novosti) – The Belarusian president's official visit to Vietnam scheduled for December 11–12 has been postponed "by mutual consent," a Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday.

// Dec. 11, 2006 - 06:01 GMT

TEHRAN, December 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russia's nuclear chief will arrive in Tehran Monday for talks on finishing the construction of Iran's first nuclear power plant, being built by Russians in the south of the country.

// Dec. 11, 2006 - 06:22 GMT

MOSCOW, December 11 (RIA Novosti) – One contract serviceman was wounded in an attack on a Russian military convoy in the Republic of Chechnya in Russia's troubled North Caucasus region, local law enforcers said Monday.

// Dec. 11, 2006 - 06:28 GMT

MOSCOW, December 11 (RIA Novosti) – Credit institutions' balances on correspondent accounts with the Russian Central Bank totaled 338 billion rubles ($12.88 billion at the current exchange rates) at the beginning of the business day, down 5.2% (21.4 billion rubles/$815.6 million) from Friday, the CBR said Monday.

// Dec. 11, 2006 - 07:05 GMT

London-based Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is petrified he could be the next victim of Russian poisoners, The People.co.uk website reported Sunday.

// Dec. 11, 2006 - 07:16 GMT

Russia's Oleg Maskaev retained his World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight crown on Sunday with a unanimous points decision over Ugandan Peter Okhello.

// Dec. 11, 2006 - 07:27 GMT

U.S. authorities are to examine Roman Abramovich's ties to the Kremlin as part of a national security review of a $2.3bn bid for Oregon Steel by a company controlled by the Russian billionaire.

// Dec. 11, 2006 - 07:33 GMT

Nine patients were killed and 15 suffered injuries as a fire hit a clinic for the mentally ill in Siberia on Sunday, a day after a blaze at a Moscow drug treatment center killed 45 people.

// Dec. 11, 2006 - 07:35 GMT

On Friday, Dec. 8, Russia and the European Union backed energy-efficiency measures to save more than 400 million tons of oil equivalent each year by 2020. The measures will be similar to adding two more Irans to world oil supply.

// Dec. 11, 2006 - 07:46 GMT