Moscow - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin outlined a list of 2009 budget priorities to the Duma, the lower house of parliament Monday, including plans for the completion of an oil pipeline to China this spring.

The pipeline, made possible in the midst of a financial crisis thanks to a 25-billion-dollar loan from China, is supposed to deliver 15 million tons of oil a year, for a total of 300 million tons from 2010 through 2030.

Dubai - Authorities in Dubai on Sunday accused Chechen deputy prime minister Adam Delimkhanov of being behind the murder of former Chechen rebel commander Sulim Yamadayev in the city last week.

Dubai's police chief Dhahi Khalfan Tamim told a press conference that one of the weapons found after the murder belonged to Delimkhanov, according to the al-Arabiya news channel.

Moscow - Russia has urged the international community to show restraint in its reaction

Moscow - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet have called for an end to the US embargo of the Caribbean island of Cuba, at a meeting in Moscow on Saturday.

Moscow and Santiago called for the integration of Cuba into the "regional multilateral structures," a joint communique from the two heads of state said.

Medvedev and Bachelet also signed agreements on military cooperation, energy-sector cooperation and space, the Interfax news agency reported.

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that US-Russian leadership is vital to implement treaties banning the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev agreed during their meeting in London Wednesday to commit to draw up a new deal on nuclear disarmament to replace the US- Russian strategic weapons reduction programme (START) which expires at the end of 2009.