Main news of July 17

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

Russia:

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has proposed imposing harsher punishments for terrorism and has submitted a bill outlining amendments to the criminal code, the Kremlin's press service said

* Russia and NATO are preparing a foreign ministers meeting in a framework of Russia-NATO Council, Russia's ambassador to NATO said

* Russian government submitted an agreement on notifications of ballistic missiles and carrier rocket launches signed with China to the lower house of parliament for ratification, State Duma's official website said

* Russia and Bulgaria signed a road map for the technical and economic assessment of Bulgaria's section of the South Stream gas pipeline, an advisor to the Russian Energy Ministry said

* Results of Russia-Bulgarian gas talks provide confidence in a continuation of strategic mutually beneficial and long-lasting partnership between both countries, Russian Energy Minister said

* Russian pianist Mikhail Pletnev, accused of sexually abusing a child in Thailand and released on a bail has returned to the Asian country for court hearings, a Russian National Orchestra spokeswoman said

* Russia and Armenia signed in Yerevan an agreement on cooperation between their national Olympic committees

* A Federal Security Service (FSB) officer and his two children were injured as unknown assailants blew up his car in the Russian North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, a police spokesman said

* The international Aqua Jazz festival will open in Russia's Olympic city of Sochi as part of the city's ongoing Sochi 2014 Cultural Olimpiad, well-known Russian Saxophonist and festival producer Igor Butman said

 

World:

* The presidents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia visits to Nicaragua and Venezuela - two of the four countries that have recognized the former Georgian republics' independence - go bust as both leaders landed in other countries

* Kazakhstan will give Kyrgyzstan $10 million towards building materials and power plant fuel, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said during the opening of an informal meeting of OSCE foreign ministers in the Kazakh city of Almaty

* Kazakh Foreign Minister and Acting Chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe called for a prompt consolidation of international efforts in resolving the troubled situation in Kyrgyzstan

* The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) countries agreed to provide consolidated support to the ex-Soviet Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakh Foreign Minister and Acting Chair of the OSCE Kanat Saudabayev said

* Sending a police advisory group from Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to Kyrgyzstan for four months will cost several million Euros, Director of OSCE Conflict Prevention Herbert Zalberg said

* The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group released a statement encouraging the peaceful settlement of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict, the OSCE website said

* Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev called for the drawing up of a single document outlining the basic principles and direction of Eurasian integration

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called on participants of an informal meeting of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) not to hinder the process of visa regime liberalization

* Kazakhstan, which holds the 2010 chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), has proposed holding the organization's next summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana from October 29 - 30

* Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said expressed his confidence that a forthcoming visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Armenia will become a new stage in bilateral relations, Armenian presidential press-service said

* Kazakhstan is to designate $50 million for an education program that will provide more than 1,000 Afghans with higher education between 2010 and 2018, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said

* A new Caravaggio painting may have been found in Rome, ASNA Italian news agency said citing L'Osservatore Romano, a semi-official newspaper of the Holy See