Main News of November 15

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that Israel is prepared to expand its operation in the Gaza Strip if necessary, regional media reported.

* Xi Jinping has been named general secretary of China’s Communist Party Central Committee, succeeding outgoing President Hu Jintao in the post.

* Foreign investors in Belarus will be allowed to buy land for private ownership, Belarusian Economics Minister Nikolai Snopkov said.

* North Korea has built a dome-shaped roof covering a light water reactor in Yongbyon, South Korea’s KBS TV channel reported.

RUSSIA

* Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Israelis and Palestinians to prevent the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip where the Israeli army is carrying out a large scale operation targeting Palestinian militants and their infrastructure.

* A broken communications cable which severed Russian links with civilian satellites has been repaired, Russian telecom operator Akado said.

* The Russian Orthodox Church will encourage pilgrims to travel to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan to widen its presence in the region, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said at the end of his five-day visit there.

BUSINESS

* Russia’s energy giant Gazprom and Bulgaria’s largest natural gas distribution company Bulgargaz signed a new contract on the delivery of Russian gas to Bulgaria for the period until 2022.

* Gazprom and Bulgaria signed a final deal to build the Bulgarian stretch of the South Stream gas pipeline project to bring Russian natural gas to Europe along the Black Sea seabed bypassing transit countries, Gazprom said.

* Russia ranked lowest among the BRICS nations in the Global Dynamism Index (GDI) published by the advisory firm Grant Thornton International.

* Russian steelmaker Severstal posted an IFRS net profit of $912 million in January-September 2012, down almost 42 percent on the same period last year, the company said, citing falling prices for the result.

* MegaFon, one of Russia’s top three mobile operators, has set the price range for its Initial Public Offering (IPO) at $20-25 per share, the company said.

DEFENSE

* Russian President Vladimir Putin fired Deputy Defense Ministers Dmitry Chushkin and Yelena Kozlova, the Kremlin announced, the latest in a wave of sackings following last week's removal of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.

* Russia is ready to start in-depth discussions on a new Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) if the EU does not link it to political issues, Russia’s envoy to NATO Alexander Grushko said.

* Russia’s Defense Ministry has announced a decision to develop "a combat vehicle of the future" and begin supplying it to the Armed Forces by 2015, a senior military official said.