* President Vladimir Putin said he would meet with his Chinese counterpart at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, on August 16
* Russian Foreign Minister dismissed as inappropriate remarks by a UN envoy suggesting Russia's role at the UN Security Council should be reduced over its hard line against Western states' Kosovo plan
* A group of Russian and U.S. dignitaries gathered at the presidential residence near Moscow behind closed doors in an apparent bid to repair shattered ties between Russia and the United States
* Russia hopes that Pakistan's political and religious groups will pool their efforts in the fight against terrorism following the recent Red Mosque siege in Islamabad, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said
* Russia has successfully conducted the first live firing tests of its new S-400 Triumf air defense complex at a testing ground in southern Russia, the Air Force said
* Russia's Supreme Court ruled that the liquidation of the Social Democratic Party, which was re-established in 2002 by former president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev, was legal, a court official said
* Russia could authorize children's organ transplants as of next year, following requests from medics and despite opposition from rights groups, Kommersant daily reported
* Russian prosecutors demanded a life sentence for a former Yukos security chief who was earlier sentenced to 24 years on multiple counts of murder
* The art collection of deceased cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, worth about 3 million pounds ($6 million), is to be sold at Sotherby's auction house in London, his widow Galina Vishnevskaya said
* A plane bound from St. Petersburg to Turkey was forced to return to Pulkovo airport after drunken passengers started a fight on board, transport police said
WORLD
* U.S. Congress approved a bill 87-1 to increase the bounty for the capture or information leading to the arrest of al-Qaeda notorious leader Osama bin Laden to $50 million
* The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday for the withdrawal of most American troops from Iraq by April 1, 2008
* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko sharply criticized the U.S. administration for continuing support of the opposition in Belarus and suggested that the U.S. president should deal with his own problems
* India, the U.S., Australia, Japan, and Singapore will hold a joint naval exercise in September with 20 ships, at least three of them aircraft carriers, the UNI India news agency said
* A Brazilian court issued an order for the arrest of exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, local media reported
BUSINESS
* Yukos creditors approved an auction to sell shares in Yukos Finance B.V. (Netherlands), which controls the bankrupt oil company's foreign assets, the bankruptcy receiver's press secretary said
* Inflation in Russia reached 0.3% in the first 10 days of July, Russian economics minister German Gref said
* The cost of the first project phase to develop the vast Shtokman natural gas deposit off Russia's Arctic coast has been estimated at $15 billion, a Gazprom top manager said
* Millhouse Capital, an investment vehicle for Russia's number one on the Forbes list, Roman Abramovich, has bought its first gold mine in the Chukotka Region, Vedomosti daily said
* Renova, a leading Russian asset management company, said the implementation of its joint uranium mining project in South Africa had been delayed, jeopardizing its place on the country's uranium market
* Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov said his country would begin exporting oil to China in 2009
