Main news of August 13

RUSSIA

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:

- criticized comments made by the U.S. president on fighting in Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia as being based on unverified reports 

- Russia had ended its operation in Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia after fulfilling tasks set by its president, not at the request of the United States

* The Russian Foreign Ministry said that a decree issued by the Ukrainian president requiring prior notification for naval movements of Russia's Black Sea Fleet is a 'new serious anti-Russian step'

* A top Russian military official said 74 Russian military personnel died during recent fighting with Georgian troops in breakaway South Ossetia 

WORLD

* Georgia and Russia have agreed to a modified version of a French-brokered peace plan, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in Tbilisi

 * U.S. President George W. Bush said he planned to send Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to France and then to Georgia

* The pro-Western leaders of Poland and four post-Soviet countries appeared alongside Georgia's president at a mass rally in central Tbilisi to show a united front against Russia

* Iran has come out on top with the West over its controversial nuclear program, the Islamic Republic's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told local media

* The leader of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity, said he supported a French-brokered plan to resolve the conflict that erupted when Georgia attempted to seize control of the breakaway region last Friday

* The death toll in a bomb explosion in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli has risen to 17, including ten soldiers, the Voice of Lebanon radio station said

* A Russian Black Sea Fleet warship has joined a NATO-led counter-terror operation in the Mediterranean, the fleet's press service said

* Georgia has filed a lawsuit against Russia at the International Court of Justice over alleged ethnic cleansing, the Georgian National Security Council secretary said

* The International Space Station's orbit has been adjusted to prepare for the docking of the Progress M-65 cargo module, due to be launched September 10, Russia's Mission Control Center said

* Prosecutors in Geneva said there was no way a criminal case against the Libyan leader's youngest son that triggered a diplomatic spat with Tripoli last month could be closed for political reasons

* A large majority of Americans support their country's plans to deploy missile defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic, according to a U.S. survey

BUSINESS

* Russian truck producer KamAZ has reported almost a 50% year-on-year drop in its net profit, calculated to Russian Accounting Standards in the first half of this year, to 2.6 billion rubles ($111 million)

* Novatek [RTS: NVTK] said  its net profit calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards grew 70%, year on year, in January-June 2008 to 14.56 billion rubles ($603 million)

* RusAl, the world's largest aluminum producer, has filed a suit against oil company LUKoil for the disruption of oil coke supplies, the company said 

* Russian power generating company TGK-4 said its net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards declined 22.5% year-on-year in January-June to 414.8 million rubles ($17 million)

* Novolipetsk Steel [LSE: NLMK], one of Russia's largest steel producers, said it had signed a final agreement to acquire the U.S.-based pipe manufacturer John Maneely Company (JMC) for $3.53 billion

SPORTS

* Russia's Dmitry Sautin and Yury Kunakov won silver in the men's synchronized 3m springboard at the Beijing Olympics

* Russia's Oxana Slivenko won an Olympic silver medal at the Beijing games in the women's 69kg weightlifting event with host nation China taking yet another gold

* Russia's 4x200m Freestyle Relay men's team won silver at the Beijing Olympics, trailing the U.S. team, which set a world record of 6:58.56