Main new of July 31

RUSSIA

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will present to parliament in September a draft law on measures to counter corruption, the Kremlin said

* Less than 10% of Russians see President Dmitry Medvedev as the true leader of the country, according to a July opinion poll released  by the Yury Levada Center

* Seven Russian women athletes, including five selected for the Beijing Olympics, were temporarily suspended by the IAAF over doping offenses

* Commercial production of a new Russian short-haul passenger airliner, the Tu-334, will start within the next six months, the manufacturer said

* Lawmakers in a Russian Volga province voted to remove a deserted village named California from maps, local authorities said

* Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry has sent two convoys of humanitarian aid to flood-hit areas of Ukraine and Moldova, the ministry's spokesperson said

* Libya's prime minister told his Russian counterpart that his country plans to buy more Russian arms, and wants to step up cooperation in nuclear power as well as and oil and gas production

* Four vessels flying the Cambodian flag have been detained in Russia's Far East over the past two days, a spokesperson for the local coastal guard said

* An 8-year-old girl died after a set of goalposts fell on her during a mini-football match in central Russia's Penza Region, local police said

* Libya is interested in Russian investment in its oil and gas sector, the country's prime minister said

* Russia's North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia has declared an emergency situation due to an outbreak of African swine fever, a local emergencies spokesman said

* A Moscow court is set to examine a suit filed by the first wife of late Georgian tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili against a woman who also claims to be his wife, a court spokeswoman said

* As Russian scientists descend in mini-submarines to previously unexplored parts of Baikal, the world's deepest lake, national media have pointed to possible treasure finds including Imperial Russian gold and silver

* The Russian antimonopoly watchdog's commission will hold an initial session to discuss mining giant Mechel, coal giant Evraz Holding and mining company Raspadsky Coal within the next fortnight, a FAS state secretary said

* The manager of perennial 1990s Russian champions Spartak Moscow has said that there is no place in the side for Yegor Titov, the club's former captain and one of the country's most famous footballers

* Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin has discussed the growth of bilateral trade and investment with his Cuban counterpart Ricardo Cabrisas, the Granma newspaper's online edition said

* The head of the LUKoil Overseas Libyan office, who was detained in Tripoli last November, has been released and is back in Moscow, a source at the Russian Embassy in Libya said

WORLD

* Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, long wanted for his role in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, appeared at the UN war crimes tribunal

* U.S. threats of new sanctions against Iran will only harm the constructive dialogue between the West and Tehran on its nuclear program, Iran's permanent representative to the IAEA said

* Seven Ukrainian holidaymakers including three children were killed when their car collided with a truck in Ukraine's Crimea, traffic police said

* A Serbian newspaper published a front-page photo of Radovan Karadzic showing him without the long hair and bushy beard he wore to conceal his identity

* Saudi Arabia's religious police have banned selling pet cats and dogs and walking them in public places in the country's capital Riyadh to preserve public morals, the Al-Hayat newspaper said

* There will be no direct talks between Georgian and Abkhaz representatives at an upcoming meeting in Berlin, the president of the Georgian breakaway republic said

* South Ossetia, one of Georgia's breakaway provinces, warned on Thursday that it could block irrigation canals leading to central Georgia if Tbilisi refuses to re-start water supplies to the region's capital

* Five people have been killed and 23 injured in two major bus accidents in Kazakhstan, the republic's interior ministry said

* Pope Benedict XVI has granted papal dispensation to Paraguay's president-elect, Fernando Lugo Mendez, to resign as a Catholic bishop, Vatican Radio reported

* The Beijing Subway Company said it had tightened security ahead of the Olympic games and urged passengers to avoid carrying luggage while traveling underground

* China sharply criticized "odious attempts" by U.S. lawmakers to politicize the Olympics and to interfere in its internal affairs

* A U.S. F-15 fighter has crashed over the Nevada desert during a training flight, killing one pilot and injuring another, a spokesman for the Andrews Air Force base said

* A 38-year-old man has died of anthrax in southern Kazakhstan, the ex-Soviet republic's emergencies ministry spokesman said

BUSINESS

* Russian electricity export-import operator Inter RAO UES began importing electricity from Georgia to Russia through the Kavkasioni power line on Thursday, the company said in a statement

* Russian energy giant Gazprom said its net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards more than doubled, year-on-year, in January-June 2008 to 285.7 billion rubles ($12.2 billion)

 * Russia's largest steelmaker Evraz Group S.A. said it had signed an agreement on developing an iron ore deposit in western Australia jointly with China's Metallurgical Group Corp

* Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves increased by $4 billion, to $592.3 billion, in the week of July 18 - July 25, the Central Bank of Russia said

 

-0-