Cameroon star Samuel Eto'o was due in Moscow on Thursday after signing a three-year deal with Russia's new big spenders Anzhi Makhachkala that will reportedly be the most valuable contract in football.

"This evening, Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto'o signed a personal three-year contract with Anzhi Makhachkala," the club said in a statement issued after Eto'o completed a medical on Wednesday evening.

Russia has grounded its Soyuz rockets after one of the unmanned craft crashed shortly after blast-off while carrying tons of cargo for the International Space Station, a space official said Thursday.

"A decision has been taken to halt the launch of Soyuz carrier rockets until the reasons for the accident become clear," the unnamed Russian official told the Interfax news agency.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said there were still two powers in Libya despite the success of rebels against the forces of Moammar Gadhafi, and called for talks to resolve the situation.

"Despite the successes of the rebels, Gadhafi and his supporters still have a certain influence and military potential. We want them to sit down at the negotiating table and reach agreements on future peace," he said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's armored train arrived Tuesday in an eastern Siberian city for a summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

The North Korean leader stepped out of his train in Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia, a Buddhist province near Lake Baikal, Russian news agencies reported. Kim's motorcade left town in the direction of Turka, a picturesque village on the shores of Baikal, the Russian ITAR-Tass news agencies reported.

The mayor of a Russian town just outside Moscow was shot dead Monday in a possible contract killing, investigators said.

Yevgeny Dushko, mayor of Sergiyev Posad, a town of 105,000 people some 60 kilometers north of the capital, was leaving his apartment building at 7:30 am (03:30 GMT) when an unidentified gunman shot him twice, the Investigative Committee said.

Two strong blasts tore through a supermarket in Russia's volatile Caucasus region of Dagestan, injuring 15 people including three children, regional police said on Monday.

The first blast went off late Sunday and wounded a sales clerk, the regional interior ministry said in a statement. The second struck when a Russian security team arrived on the scene.

North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong Il on Monday swept through Siberia aboard his special armoured train to the city of Ulan-Ude for talks with President Dmitry Medvedev later this week.

Kim is widely expected to meet Medvedev for a rare summit, possibly Tuesday or Wednesday.

Russia has put forward "proposals" to build new nuclear power plants in Iran after the completion of the Bushehr project, local media reported Sunday quoting the Islamic republic's atomic chief.

"We have held negotiations with the Russians regarding the construction of new nuclear power plants. They have put forward some proposals," Fereydoon Abbasi Davani was quoted as saying by Resalat newspaper.

North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong Il on Sunday received a red carpet welcome in the Amur region where he also toured a hydro power station ahead of talks with President Dmitry Medvedev.

Kim on Saturday kicked off a week-long secrecy-wrapped visit to the Russian Far East and Siberia, a rare trip out of a country battling isolation and hunger.

North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il on Saturday arrived in his armored train in Russia and plans to meet President Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin said.

During the visit, his first since 2002, Kim is expected to meet with the Kremlin chief for talks in Siberia to discuss North Korea's nuclear program, bilateral economic projects and a worsening food crisis in the isolated state.