Main news of July 12

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Moldova's Constitutional Court ruled that a decree issued by the country's acting president to establish a Soviet Occupation Day is unconstitutional

* Talks on Georgian NATO membership are impossible as long as Georgia does not recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russia's ambassador to NATO said

* Israel Defense Forces (IDF) justified the attack of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla by Israeli commandos in May in a review conducted by a team of experts

RUSSIA

* Russia is experiencing the worst drought in 38 years, the presidential advisor on climate said

* A group of suspected suicide bombers was detained in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, the National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) said

* Iran is close to acquiring the capability to make nuclear weapons, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev condemned the bomb attacks in Uganda that killed 64 and expressed condolences to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia is strictly against the placement of weapons in space

* A Moscow district court fined the organizers of the controversial Forbidden Art-2006 exhibition for fueling national and religious hatred

* Russia has followed less than half of the European Council's Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) recommendations, an official from the Kremlin told the Vedomosti daily

BUSINESS

* Kazakhstan has launched a process aimed at terminating a merger of Russia's top gold producer, Polyus Gold, and Kazakh gold miner KazakhGold Group Ltd due to what it says is a low price of the deal, a spokesman at Kazakhstan's Ministry for Industry and New Technologies said

* Oil companies on Russia's Pacific island of Sakhalin in the first six months of this year extracted 12.740 billion cubic meters of gas, or 61% more than in the same drilling period last year, an official from the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry said

SPORTS

* Spain won the World Cup for the first time in history after defeating the Netherlands 1-0 in the championship's final match in South Africa