Israel, Palestine agree to draft framework for peace deal.

WASHINGTON, September 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Israeli and Palestinian leaders
agreed at the first round of direct bilateral talks on Thursday to
continue negotiations and draft a framework for a lasting peace deal.
U.S. special Mideast envoy George Mitchell told reporters "our goal is
to resolve all of the core issues within one year, and the parties
themselves have suggested and agreed that the logical way to proceed, to
tackle them, is to try to reach a framework agreement first."
Mitchell gave no detail what the framework would include, but said it
would set out the main compromises to promote a full peace treaty. He
described the talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as productive.
He also said Netanyahu and Abbas agreed to meet again on Sept. 14 and
15 likely in the Egyptian Red Rea resort of Sharm el-Sheik. After that
they plan to meet every two weeks. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who
hosted the talks at the State Department, will attend the next round.
Clinton said she expected no quick breakthrough. "We know how
difficult the road ahead will be. There undoubtedly will be obstacles and
setbacks," she said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on a visit to Poland also
predicted the talks will be difficult.
"The direct Palestinian-Israeli talks will not be easy, but one cannot
lose the chance," he said.


.Russia resumes imports of Japanese cars.


MOSCOW, September 3 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian government decided to
resume imports of Japanese cars produced for the home market, the Industry
and Trade Ministry said on Thursday.
It recalled the imports were suspended because Russian regulations
demanded the VIN-number of imported cars to comprise 17 characters, while
Japanese vehicles had a different number of digits.
"This fact made it impossible to identify such vehicles according to
the requirements of technical regulations and therefore denied their
access to the territory of the country," the ministry said.
It also said changes to the regulations allowed imports of 20-meter
long trucks from the United States.

.Wildfires kill two pensioners in Volgograd region.

VOLGOGRAD, September 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Wildfires killed two people and
destroyed 450 buildings in Volgograd region on the Volga on Thursday
leaving at least 150 people homeless.
Volgograd regional emergency service said a 77-year old man and an
80-year old woman died in the fires that quickly spread because of high
temperatures close to 40 degrees Centigrade and strong wind.
Firemen succeeded to localize the blaze in 10 residential settlements
however the situation in another two remains alarming.
"Firefighters are working in the settlements of Rudnya and
Alexandrovka where the wild fires have not been localized yet," the
emergency service said.
Alexandrovka has 395 houses of which 46 burned down, as well as the
school and the club.
450 firefighters and over 90 vehicles are fighting wildfires. Two fire
helicopters arrived from neighboring Rostov region and two planes are
expected to join the force shortly.
Regional Governor Anatoly Brovko promised assistance to all the
victims but said "it is necessary to clarify why the wildfires have
acquired such a major scope and why so many houses were burned down in
several districts at a time."
Close to 46 thousand people live in the affected areas which have some
six thousand residential houses.

.Putin orders to allow imports of US long-haul trucks.

MOSCOW, September 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Following his meetings with
long-haul truckers in the Far East Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered
to allow imports of U.S. long vehicles to the country.
Putin told the government on Thursday he met the truckers during his
trip along Khabarovsk-Chita highway in the Far East and they asked to
allow imports of second-hand U.S. trucks.
"The government will satisfy the requests of the drivers and will
amend safety regulations for wheeled vehicles to allow long-haul trucks of
a bigger size of up to 20 meters," the prime minister said.
Earlier the regulations fixed the limits of 18 meters.
Putin expressed hope domestic industry will master production of such
trucks with time.
The ministry of industry and trade hurried to respond on Thursday the
regulations had been amended and U.S.-made trucks can now be imported.
It also said regulations have been amended to resume imports of
Japanese cars produced for the home market. It was not clear whether
motorists in the Far East had asked Putin to do that, but most people in
the area drive second-hand right-wheel Japanese cars, which the
regulations have banned.
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