Main news of July 12

RUSSIA

* Eight militants have been killed in special operations in three regions of Chechnya since last night, the North Caucasus republic's interior ministry said

* A group of armed robbers entered a jewelry store in southwest Moscow, and stole cash and jewels worth over 4 million rubles ($120,000), police said

* Rescuers have found the boat that sank in northwest Siberia on July 4, as a result of which three journalists are still missing, the Urals regional emergencies center said

* Alexander Filimonov, a former goalkeeper for the Russian football team, has been prevented from leaving the country over unpaid maintenance to his ex-wife and children, court bailiffs said

WORLD

* Turkmenistan has reached an agreement to boost natural gas sales to Iran by 8 billion cubic meters per year to 14 billion cu m, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said

* Rescuers are evacuating almost 400 workers from a coal mine in southeast Ukraine where a fire has broken out, the UNIAN news agency said

* The son of a Georgian opposition leader was admitted to a Tbilisi hospital last night after being injured in a knife attack, the Rustavi-2 TV channel reported

* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko denied reports that he has made arrangements for his youngest son to succeed him as the country's leader

* Michael Jackson's sister La Toya said her brother had been exploited as a "cash cow" by a manipulative entourage who supplied him with addictive drugs that caused his death