Main news of July 18

* Discussions between the presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan on a settlement to the Nagorny Karabakh dispute were held in a constructive atmosphere, a Russian presidential aide said

* The number of Russians who have contracted swine flu has risen to 10 after medics in southwestern Siberia diagnosed a 14-year-old girl with the A/H1N1 virus, local authorities said

* Vice Admiral Oleg Burtsev, Russia's first deputy chief of the Navy General Staff, said:

- new Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile will enter service with the Russian Navy despite a series of failed test-launches

- Russia's Black Sea Fleet should have at least two main bases, in Sevastopol and Novorossiisk

- at least five large groups of pirates, totaling over 5,000 people, are operating in the Gulf of Aden

* Russian human rights group Memorial, whose activist was killed in Chechnya this week, said it had suspended its activities in the North Caucasus republic

* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko officially announced he will run for a second term in elections scheduled for January 2010

* The Niigata Prefecture in Japan has pioneered the sales of a mixture of gasoline and bioethanol made from rice for animal feed, local media said