.Traffic restored at Trans-Siberian railway where coaches slid off track.

IRKUTSK, November 13 (Itar-Tass) - Traffic has been fully restored at a section of the Trans-Siberian Railway in the Irkutsk region where twelve freight coaches carrying coal slid off the track on Friday.

Officials at the East-Siberian branch of the Russian Railways said
Friday's accident occurred near the town of Nizhneudinsk that has a large
railway junction.
It affected the schedules of three passenger trains - the
Chita-Chelyabinsk train was halted en route for 40 minutes, the
Taishet-Irkutsk for 50 minutes, and the Moscow-Khabarovsk - by 6 hours 04
minutes.
A special commission led by Anatoly Krasnoshchok, the chief of the
East Siberian railway department is investigating the causes of the
accident.
Sources indicate that breakup of the bodyside frame of a coach might
be a possible cause of the accident.
They also say it did not cause victims or destructions or damage to
the ecology.

.US defense chief urges Senate to ratify new START treaty.

WASHINGTON, November 13 (Itar-Tass) -- Chairman of the U.S. Joint
Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, urged the U.S. Senate Friday to
ratify the new START nuclear treaty with Russia rapidly.
He indicated among other things that the inspection regime of the
earlier treatyvgvgv expired nearly a year ago and it is critical to move
forward now.
"I believe, and the rest of the military leadership in this country
believes, that this treaty is essential to our future security," Adm.
Mullen said.
"I really think it's critical that we move forward," Mullen said,
adding the previous accord along with its verification and inspection
regime expired last year.
"In December it will be one year without any way to verify," he said.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
signed the new agreement in April. It has a binding force and commits the
former Cold War enemies to cut deployed nuclear weapons by about 30
percent.
According to Mullen, the most significant argument against the treaty
is the opponents' concern that it will prevent the US from moving ahead
with plans to build an antiballistic missile defense system, Reuters said
in a report on his speech.
"There is nothing that I see in any way, shape or form which
jeopardizes our ability to develop missile defense capabilities," Mullen
told an audience at Stanford University. "We haven't slowed one bit since
we were engaged in this treaty."

.Production of gold in Trans-Baikal territory up 22 percent in 2010.

ULAN-UDE, November 13 (Itar-Tass) - Gold producing companies in Russia'
s Trans-Baikal territory /former Chita region/ are building up production
of gold, officials at the territorial ministry of industries and energy
told Itar-Tass.
"A total of 6,636 kilograms of gold was produced here from January
through to October and that's 22% more than in the same period a year
ago," an official said.
Gold produced on mines made up the greater part of the increase. It
stood at 2,268 kilograms, showing a 218% increase over January-October
2009.
Production of placer gold showed 4,367 kilograms - roughly the same as
in previous years.

.Russia criticizes Kosovan govt's unilateral actions in north Kosovo.

UNITED NATIONS, November 13 (Itar-Tass) - Russia believes that the
unilateral actions taken by the Kosovo's self-proclaimed government and
the international forces to change reality in northern parts of the
province are totally inadmissible, Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vitaly
Churkin said Friday.
He said it at an open meeting of the UN Security Council where the
situation in Kosovo was discussed.
"Moscow believes in the importance of a resumption of dialogues
between the parties concerned with settling the Kosovo problem," Churkin
said.
He voiced concern over the Albanian separatist authorities' activity
to the north of the Ibar River, their plans for the construction and
restoration of ruined buildings on the lands adjoining Serb population
centers and the opening of a court in northern Mitrovica without
coordinating the issue with the Serb municipality or with the UN mission
in Kosovo.
"The situation over the return of displaced persons including the Serb
population remains unsatisfactory," Churkin said.
He voiced profound concern over the continuing manifestations of
vandalism against Serbia's religious shrines.
"We share the concern on the part of the Serbian government and the
Serbian Orthodox Church in connection with the starting handover of
control functions at the most treasured sites of Serb cultural and
religious heritage to the Kosovan police," Churkin said.
"Such plans are fraught with a further destabilization of security in
Kosovo, as they fuel the Serb population's mistrust in the international
forces' readiness to perform the duties vested in them," he said.
"That this step is premature is also proved by the facts that Serbia's
Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremetic mentioned here today when he spoke about
incidents in the town of Pec during accession to the throne of the Serb
Orthodox Patriarch," Churkin said.
He stressed the importance of reserving the role of the main
instrument of Kosovo's settlement for the UN Security Council, "which
remains the guarantor of compliance with international law, the UN
Charters and its own decisions.
"The attempts by Kosovan media to slur the UN mission in Kosovo are
unacceptable as they jeopardize the security of its members and put up
obstacles for the fulfillment of their duties.
Churkin also dismissed the attempts to secure for Kosovo a role in
international institutions as if it were an independent state.
"We insist that the UN mission should fulfill its obligations
regarding Kosovo's external representation in regional and international
mechanisms," Churkin said. "We continue proceeding from the premise that
the UN mission should play the maximum active role in assisting the
process of settlement in Kosovo."
-0-kle