News of the Day, 15:00 Moscow time

* Kyrgyzstan shut its border with Uzbekistan after shots were heard coming from its neighbor's Andijan province, amid media reports of a military crackdown

* Rosneft plans to start work on oil and gas prospecting off Abkhazia, the head of Russia's largest state-run oil company, Sergei Bogdanchikov, said

* Georgia is ready to begin talks with Russia on opening a border control checkpoint between the two countries, a Georgian Foreign Ministry spokesman said

* France opened a permanent military base in the Persian Gulf, in a bid to bolster security in the region

* The Russia-Belarus financial and industrial group Defense Systems will supply Pechora-2M air defense systems to five countries in the near future, the company's deputy general director said

* The head of Russia's largest independent oil producer LUKoil, Vagit Alekperov, said he is due to visit Baghdad for talks on a contract to develop the West Qurna-2 oil field in southern Iraq

* According to the World Health Organization's latest update, a total of 12,954 people in 46 countries worldwide have been officially diagnosed with the A/H1N1 swine flue virus, with a total of 92 deaths

* A suicide bomber attacked an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) convoy in Afghanistan's northern province of Kapisa on Tuesday, killing at least six people, an Interior Ministry spokesman said