Moscow  - Just seconds before blast off, Russia delayed the launch Monday of one of Europe's most technically advanced space missions, a Space Forces spokesman said.

Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying the launch was delayed for 24 hours for "technical reasons."

The 450-million-dollar European Space Agency (ESA) satellite is to reach orbit strapped to the back of a modified Russian ballistic missile from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in north-west Russia.

Caracas  - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday denied having offered a Venezuelan island in the Caribbean as a base for the Russian Air Force.

A senior officer of the Russian Air Force said Saturday that the force was considering temporarily basing long-range bombers on Cuba or in Venezuela.

Cuba alone had four or five suitable bases, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had offered a base on La Orchila island, Major- General Anatoly Shikharev was quoted as saying.

Moscow - US actor Mickey Rourke fulfilled a "dream" by making a three-hour visit to Moscow's notorious Butyrka Prison as he prepares for his next big screen role as a Russian bad man, it was reported Saturday.

The 56-year-old - Oscar-nominated this year for his role in The Wrestler - met behind locked cell doors with inmates during the tour which included visits to the prison gym, church, museum and canteen, Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper said.

It quoted Rourke as admiring the prison's facility for allowing inmates time with their wives - "that's very humane" - and said Rourke gave autographs to warders and inmates.

Moscow - The Russian Air Force is considering temporarily basing long-range bombers on Cuba or in Venezuela, Interfax news agency quoted a senior officer as saying Saturday.

Cuba alone had four or five suitable bases, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had offered a base on La Orchila island, Major- General Anatoly Shikharev was quoted as saying.

Hanoi  - A bus carrying 24 Russian tourists plunged into a ravine in southern Vietnam, killing at least 12, local media reported Saturday.

The accident occurred Friday evening as the bus with the Russians and three Vietnamese aboard was descending the Dai Ninh pass on its way from the hill resort of Dalat to the coastal town of Mui Ne, the news website Vietnamnet reported.

Rescuers were still trying to free at least nine passengers from the bus Saturday morning. Eight of the casualties died at the scene 150 kilometres south of Dalat while another four died after being admitted to a nearby hospital.

Moscow - Russian police in Siberia stormed a bank and killed an armed man who had taken five hostages there Friday, a police spokesman said.

"The operation was successful. The hostages are safe and sound. The criminal is dead," the Interfax news agency quoted a police spokesman from the town of Leninsk-Kuznetski as saying.