Main news of August 20

RUSSIA

* Russia's trade surplus dropped 16.7% in January-June 2007 to 61.7 billion, year-on-year, Russia's statistics service said

* Russia's new drifting research station in the Arctic will begin working in late September, the press spokesman of the Artic and Antarctic Research Institute said

* Suicides continue to be the main cause of death in Russia's Armed Forces, the Defense Ministry said

* The Russian Olympic Committee ruled unanimously that Moscow should apply to host the first Youth Summer Olympics in 2010

 * The Great Russia party, formed in April by members of nationalist and anti-immigration movements, reapplied for registration ahead of December's parliamentary elections, its leader, Andrei Savelyev, said

* A regional court has refused to parole a former Russian military officer sentenced to 10 years in jail for the murder of a young Chechen woman, a court official said

* The Moscow City Court upheld Monday the arrest of a senior police officer accused of receiving a $1.5 million bribe, the court's chief press spokesperson said

WORLD

 * A delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Tehran for a new round of talks aimed at resolving the international dispute over Iran's nuclear program, local TV said

* South Korea and the United States began an annual simulation-based joint military exercise to rehearse repulsing a hypothetical North Korean attack, despite of Pyongyang's protests, Seoul's Yonhap news agency reported

* Three of the 19 South Korean hostages being held by the Afghan Taliban have gone on a hunger strike, Seoul's Yonhap news agency said

* The Israeli military said it had carried out an air strike in the Gaza Strip, killing at least six Palestinian militants

* The European Commission has temporarily suspended the financing of fuel oil deliveries to the Gaza Strip over plans by Hamas to impose an electricity tax in the territory, a commission spokesman said

* Iran's foreign minister said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is ready to visit Iraq, something no Iranian president has done in almost 40 years

* Four people were admitted to hospital after the successful evacuation of passengers from a Taiwanese jet that burst into flames on landing on a Japanese island, police and firefighters in Okinawa said

* At least 22 people were killed and about 40 injured when a bus went over a 300-meter (900-foot) cliff in Nepal, local media reported

* Hurricane Dean will make landfall on the Mexican coast Tuesday night and could reach Category 5, the most severe, the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center said

BUSINESS

* Russia's oil output increased 2.9% in the first seven months of 2007 to 285 million tons (2 billion bbl), and gas production dropped 0.3% in the same period, year-on-year, the Industry and Energy Ministry said

* Foxconn Electronics, the world's largest provider of electronics manufacturing services (EMS), based in Taiwan, is planning to invest at least $50 million in the construction of a plant near St. Petersburg, the local administration said

* Russia's largest lingerie retailer,Wild Orchid, is set to become the country's first retail chain to open in the United Kingdom, a British business daily said

* Russia's private air carrier Transaero said it has acquired 94,000 shares in the state-controlled energy giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] and 124,000 shares in the Rosneft oil company [RTS: ROSN]

* Russia's Natural Resources Ministry is offering 93 new deposits for prospecting, including fields in East and West Siberia, the ministry's press office said

* The Russian aircraft holding company Sukhoi said it would announce a joint venture with Italy's Alenia Aeronautica for the sale and maintenance of Russia's Superjet 100 planes at the MAKS-2007 air show August 21-26