Five wounded in shootout in Moscow suburb.

MOSCOW, September 8 (Itar-Tass) -- A total of five persons were
wounded in a shootout in Moscow's eastern suburb in the small hours on
Wednesday, police told Itar-Tass.
According to a police source, a conflict flared up at a parking lot in
Moscow's Izmailovo district overnight to Wednesday. One of the parties to
the conflict took out a non-lethal gun and opened fire, wounding five
others.
Investigation into the incident is underway.

.Anti-tsunami drills begin on Russia's Far Eastern Sakhalin island.

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, September 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Large-scale anti-tsunami
drills have started on Russia's Far Eastern Sakhalin Island, a spokesman
for the Far Eastern regional emergencies centre told Itar-Tass on
Wednesday.
"We want to see who the federal program on decreasing risks in case of
tsunami is being implemented in the Far East," Russian Deputy Emergencies
Minister Alexander Chupriyan said kicking off the drills.
The exercises, involving more than 300 representatives from various
ministries and agencies and 100 pieces of equipment, will be held in two
Sakhalin's cities - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Korsakov.

.Bodies of two fishermen missing since mid-August found on Kamchatka.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, September 8 (Itar-Tass) -- The bodies of two
fishermen from a small fishing boat that sank in the Sea of Okhotsk
overnight to August 17 have been found on the Kamchatka coast in the
Sobolevsky district, a spokesman for the Kamchatka emergencies
administration told Itar-Tass on Wednesday, adding that one more fisherman
is still reported missing.
According to the spokesman, the bodies were found by workers of the
Kolkhoz Oktyabrya (Collective Farm October) joint-stock company, which
owned the boat. "One of the bodies was thrown ashore by a breaking wave
near the deserted village of Kirovsky, the other body was found in sea
waters in the same area," he said. The bodies have been identified.
According to the Investigation department for the Kamchatka Territory,
the fishing boat capsized and sank in the Sea of Okhotsk at a distance of
one kilometre from the shore, in the area of the River Semozhnya on the
night from August 16 to17 during a storm. There were eight people on
board. Only one managed to save himself. Four dead bodies were found on
the shore the following day. The boat was thrown ashore some two
kilometers off the place where in sank on August 19.
Criminal proceeding were initiated on charges of job safety rules
violations resulting in a human death. The collective farm's executives
ignored the storm warning and failed to evacuate people from the troubled
area. "When asked about further steps after a storm warning was issued,
the collective farm's managers ordered the fishermen to continue their
work," investigators said.

.24-kilometer oil spill reported in Rybinsk storage pond.

VLADIVOSTOK, September 8 (Itar-Tass) -- A 24-kilometer oil spill has
been reported in the Rybinsk storage pond, the state sea rescue centre
reported on Tuesday.
A crisis management centre was set up to coordinate clean-up efforts.
The Rybinsk city administration provided 600 kilograms of absorbing
agents, harbour booms and five ships of the Rybinsk inland navigation
company. The Puteisky-404 motor vessel was sent to find more about the
spill.
The spill was reported by passing by vessles.

.Russia's Rockot launch vehicle to orbit Gonets-M satellite.

MOSCOW, September 8 (Itar-Tass) -- A Russian Rockot launch vehicle is
to lift-off from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia, carrying
the Gonets-M satellite, a source in the space industry told Itar-Tass on
Wednesday. The launch will take place at 07:23 a.m. Moscow time.
The three-stage liquid fuelled rocket Rockot with a Breeze-KM third
stage was built by the Khrunichev State Space Research and Production
Centre on the base of the RS-18 ballistic missile, or SS-19 Stiletto,
according to the Western classification. Its lift-off weight is 107 tons,
it is 28 meters in length and 2.5 meters in diameter.
The first launch of the booster vehicle took place in November 20,
1990 from the Baikonur space centre. The vehicles have been launched from
the Plesetsk space centre since 2000. There have been 14 such lift-offs by
now, of which 13 were successful. In nine cases, launch services were
provided by the Eurockot joint venture.
Russia's federal space program for 2006-2015 provides for 12 launches
of Gonets-M satellites to be added to the Gonets-D1M communications
satellite group, and the orbiting of Loutch-5A/5B and Loutch-4A satellites.
The Gonets-M satellite will be part of Russia's large-scale Glonass
satellite navigation system.
Glonass - the Global Navigation Satellite System - is the Russian
equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS, and is designed
for both military and civilian use. Both systems enable users to determine
their positions to within a few meters.
-0-ras


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