Ankara - Turkey's nuclear energy board on Friday gave the green light to the Russian firm Atomstroyexport to build Turkey's first nuclear power plant, the Anka news agency reported.

Tbilisi/Moscow - Four months after the war it lost to Russia, the Georgian Parliament Thursday charged that the government as well as the military had made serious mistakes in the South Ossetian conflict.

In a report released late in the evening in the Georgian capital, the special commission also blamed Russia as the party which pushed the level of conflict to open warfare, according to media reports in Tbilisi.

The report also charged that the Georgian government, despite having good intelligence, was badly prepared for the war over the renegade areas of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It said the war was waged without agreement within the cabinet.

Moscow  - Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega met with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev Thursday on his first visit to Moscow in over two decades as Russia angles to restore a Soviet-era alliance in Latin America, traditionally a region of US influence.

"Russia wants to build robust, full-fledged and long-term relations with all of Latin America and such important partners as Nicaragua, in particular," Medvedev said.

Moscow - A proposed cartel of the world's three major gas exporting nations - Russia, Iran and Qatar - should not be compared to OPEC, the organization of oil exporting nations, Russian officials said on Thursday.

Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky was speaking to reporters ahead of a Tuesday meeting in Moscow of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, who are aiming to enhance their cooperation.

Earlier this year Russia proclaimed the formation of a so-called "gas troika," within the forum, to represent the interests of the three big gas players.

Kiev/Moscow - A last-ditch effort by Ukraine to pay part of a massive debt to Russia may be insufficient to prevent a natural gas supply crisis affecting Europe, according to a Thursday announcement by the Russian energy giant Gazprom.

Ukraine's government late Monday evening transferred 800 million dollars to the Russian natural gas monopolist on Tuesday, but the payment does not cover all of Kiev's outstanding debt, the Interfax news agency reported, citing a Gazprom company statement.

Moscow - Two Russian servicemen and two rebel fighters were killed in armed clashes overnight in Russia's strife-torn North Caucasus province of Chechnya, Interfax news agency reported Thursday.

Another six men from the local police force and Interior Ministry troops were injured in the battle.

The gunfight broke out just before midnight Wednesday as Russian servicemen stormed an apartment block where suspected rebels were hiding in the town of Argun.