Main news of July 10

RUSSIA

* Russia admitted on Thursday it had sent aircraft to monitor the situation in the Georgian breakaway republic of South Ossetia earlier this week due to fears of a Georgian invasion of the de facto independent region

* The U.S. may station intermediary and shorter-range ballistic missiles in Poland under the guise of interceptors, a Russian expert said

* The ageing British rockers Deep Purple, one of the favorite bands of the current Russian president, are set for a tour of Russia this fall, a spokesman for the tour's promotion company said

* Russia could develop an AIDS vaccine within the next 10 to 15 years, the chief AIDS/HIV controller at Russia's consumer rights regulator said

* Russia's armed forces will start receiving new-generation tanks superior to the famed T-90 main battle tank (MBT) "after 2010," a government official said

* Russia may respond to U.S. plans for missile defense bases in Central Europe with a host of measures, including the withdrawal from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a senior military expert said

* Zenit St. Petersburg lost 4-3 at home on Wednesday evening to Spartak Nalchik, with Euro 2008 star Andrei Arshavin's agent later announcing that the UEFA Cup holders had rejected a $37.5 million bid for their playmaker

* The United Kingdom's First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, will visit Russia July 13-19, the British embassy in Moscow said

* Russia has the means to ensure national security despite any potential threats posed by the planned United States missile shield in Central Europe, the Foreign Ministry said

* Russia is ready to provide Afghanistan with additional humanitarian aid to help tackle a food shortage following severe drought and a poor harvest in the country, Russia's UN envoy said

* Two teenagers, who were walking along railroad tracks with friends, were killed after being struck by a freight train in the Altai Territory in south Siberia, a transport press release said

* A motor boat in Russia's second city of St. Petersburg crashed into the legendary cruiser Aurora, a symbol of the 1917 Russian Revolution, a local emergency service spokesperson said

* Jordan's foreign minister will arrive in Moscow on Thursday for talks with his Russian counterpart on the Mideast peace process and other regional issues

WORLD

* Georgia has recalled its ambassador from Russia in connection with recent developments in its breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Georgian foreign minister said

* Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said Thursday that Moscow would not accept unilateral overhaul of the existing Russian-Ukrainian agreements on Russia's Black Sea fleet

* The UN tribunal acquitted on Thursday a former Macedonian interior minister charged with war crimes over a police attack on an ethnic Albanian village in 2001, when six people were killed

* A rotation of Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone of Moldova's breakaway republic of Transdnestr will be conducted between July 17 and 24, the peacekeepers' commander said

* Putting Georgia on the path to NATO membership would harm the ex-Soviet state's chances of resolving conflicts with its breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russia's foreign minister said

* Ongoing Iranian military exercises in the Persian Gulf are a warning for any nation considering an attack on the Islamic Republic, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps commander said

* Britain could scrap visa-free entry to the U.K. for citizens of 11 countries that are seen as posing a risk in terms of illegal immigration, crime and security, the government said

* India made public Thursday a draft agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency on guarantees of nuclear nonproliferation, where it presses the agency to create a strategic reserve of nuclear fuel

* The Nigerian employees who seized a U.S. oil company ship off the coast of Nigeria on July 4 in a dispute over wage arrears have released its international crew and returned the vessel, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said

* Israel has given almost 200 Palestinian businessmen permits to leave Gaza in a move aimed at easing the economic blockade of the Hamas-controlled enclave, a business association in Gaza said

* Iran test-fired a series of long and medium-range missiles in the Persian Gulf on Thursday, a day after drawing international criticism for missile exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, state media reported

* Sectarian clashes in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, which broke out Wednesday after a two-week lull, have killed four people and wounded another 60, local media reported

* Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he will arrive in Russia on July 22 as part of a visit aimed at boosting bilateral relations, the Prensa Latina news agency said

* Sea Launch is preparing for the launch of the EchoStar XI satellite next week, with lift-off planned for 5:21 GMT on July 16, the consortium said

* A man, who rammed a roadblock of civilian vehicles in Belarus in early March while drunk, has been detained in Russia, Belarusian traffic police said

*  U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday Russia should help Georgia resolve conflicts with its breakaway regions rather than exacerbate them

* Palestinian troops shot dead an unarmed Palestinian teenager on the border with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the first fatality in a three-week ceasefire, Gaza health officials said

* At least three people were killed and 21 injured in a series of blasts at an ammunition depot in central Uzbekistan, the emergency situations ministry said

* The president of Abkhazia arrived in Moscow on Thursday to discuss the opening of a Russian diplomatic mission in the Georgian breakaway republic, the Abkhaz foreign minister said

* Russia is demanding the closure of the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague over the "biased" acquittal of Bosnian Muslim Naser Oric, the Foreign Ministry said

* The United Nations plans to provide $21 million to help the countries worst-hit by unprecedented food and oil price rises on world markets, the UN press center reported

* Several people have been killed in a series of explosions at an ammunition depot in central Uzbekistan, independent news agency Fergana reported

BUSINESS

* Around 30 foreign specialists working at TNK-BP will have to leave Russia by July 30 when their visas expire, the Russian representative of British oil major BP said

* Russian energy giant Gazprom could obtain licenses to oil and gas deposits in Libya previously offered to Ukraine's national company Naftogaz Ukrainy, a business paper said

* Viktor Vekselberg, one of a group of four Russian billionaires that jointly own 50% in TNK-BP offered a four-point plan to end a dispute with the joint venture's partner BP, a British paper said