San Salvador, El Salvador

Moscow - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev named a new acting president of the Ingushetia region Thursday as news services reported that the old regional president had been dismissed from office.

Murat Zyazikov, 51, a former officer in the Soviet KGB secret police who was elected president of Ingushetia in 2002 with the Kremlin's backing, said Thursday he tendered his resignation in anticipation of a new job in Moscow.

Cairo - Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora denied on Thursday any Egyptian mediation to resume negotiations between Lebanon and Israel on the lines of Turkey's role in Syrian-Israeli talks.

Seniora, who was speaking at a joint press conference with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa in Cairo, said that "no such thing is taking place."

San Salvador, El Salvador - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Thursday joined calls for a "new financial world order" with stronger mechanisms for control and transparency.

At the Iberian American Summit in San Salvador, the centre-left Rodriguez Zapatero criticized the "myth of deregulation" which according to him put speculation and greed, and the unbounded craving for greater benefits, above the productive economy.

Berlin - Rain marred an aviation festival on the last day of operations at Berlin's fabled Tempelhof Airport on Thursday, raising the risk that some planes might be stranded on the ground when the airport shuts.

The airport was once the entry point for 2.3 million tons of airborne relief during the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift.

Three veteran planes, which require ideal weather to get airborne, were stuck on the ground as night fell, with cold rain falling on the city.

Islamabad - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday concluded the first round of technical talks in Dubai with Pakistani officials about creating a system to save the south Asian nation from economic collapse, officials said.

Pakistan's government is facing a tightening balance of payments. Its financing gap stands at around 7 billion dollars for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2009.