Main news of June 16

WORLD

* The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) supported energy dialogue and boosting power sector investment after the first BRIC summit, held in Russia's Urals city of Yekaterinburg

* North Korea has said that the two U.S. journalists sentenced last week to a labor camp have admitted to shooting a "smear" video on human rights in the country, the Yonhap news agency reported

* Palestinian militants failed in an attempt to assassinate former U.S. president Jimmy Carter during his visit to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported

* Georgia's destructive position was responsible for the withdrawal of the UN mission in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone, the chairman of the Russian lower house's international committee said

* An explosion at a coal mine in Indonesia's West Sumatra province has killed at least five people and injured another 10, Xinhua said

* The leaders of Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries strongly backed efforts to agree a new Russia-U.S. arms control treaty in a declaration at the end of their two-day summit on Tuesday

* Russia's president, hosting the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Urals, said on Tuesday that the group considers recent threats made by North Korea to be unacceptable

* Japan on Tuesday unilaterally imposed sanctions on North Korea, halting all trade with the secretive state in reaction to its recent nuclear test, the Kyodo news agency reported

* Iran's leading judges and clerics have ordered a recount of last Friday's election, amid ongoing protests against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial victory, the official IRNA news agency reported

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has approved draft changes to an agreement with Kyrgyzstan on the lease of a Russian Air Force base in the Central Asian republic, the Kremlin said

* The leaders of India and Pakistan met on Tuesday in Russia's Yekaterinburg for their first talks since last November's terrorist attack in Mumbai

* Seven people were killed in Tehran when shots were fired into a group of protesters disputing the results of the presidential election, Iran's Press TV reported on Tuesday, citing state radio

* Russia used its veto to block an extension of the UN observer mission's mandate in Georgia and Abkhazia, in protest against the resolution's failure to recognize the "new political and legal circumstances"

RUSSIA

* The launch of Russia's modernized Soyuz-ST carrier rocket from the Kourou space center in French Guiana has been put off until the first half of 2010, the director of a space design bureau said

* Russia's newest frigate, the Yaroslav Mudry, has completed sea trials and the official testing procedure will be over in a few days, a spokesman for the Yantar shipyard said

* Russia's president has issued instructions for military cooperation deals to be negotiated with the former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Kremlin said

* Negotiations with Belarus on the country's dairy exports, which are currently banned from Russia, have been suspended until the Belarusian position is clarified, Russia's top sanitary official said

BUSINESS

* The leaders of Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries backed on Tuesday Russia's proposal on using national currencies in mutual settlements and introducing a common currency for the group

* Russian and Chinese business representatives signed about 40 contracts worth $3 billion at a business forum in Moscow

* Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft and Avialeasing announced on Tuesday that they had signed a $715 million contract for the delivery of 24 Sukhoi Superjet 100 airliners in 2011-2013