Main news of August 15

A round up of what happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

 

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once again warned the United States and Israel against even contemplating a strike against the Islamic nation

* An international group of hackers has broken into the website of the San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit District and leaked thousand of user names, addresses, phone numbers and passwords belonging to subscribers, myBART.org reported

* The Kyrgyz Social Democratic Party has introduced the candidacy of its member and incumbent Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev to the Central Election Committee for participation in the upcoming presidential elections, its press service said

 

RUSSIA

 

* Russian security forces have arrested four men on suspicion of plotting to derail an express train between Moscow and St. Petersburg

* Mikhail Gorbachev, the first and only president of the Soviet Union, has accused Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of having no desire to tackle Russia's problems

* Russia could deploy its future S-500 anti-missile systems as part of a U.S.-led missile defense shield in Europe, a leading aerospace design chief said

* A Moscow court upheld the Justice Ministry's decision to deny registration to The Other Russia opposition party ahead of December's parliamentary elections

 

BUSINESS

 

* AAR consortium, a BP partner in its TNK-BP Russian joint venture, has filed suit at a Stockholm tribunal to demand hearings on a breach by BP of TNK-BP's shareholder agreement, Kommersant business daily quoted an AAR official as saying

* Russia will offer a reduced gas pricing formula to Belarus from 2012 as part of integration processes between the two ex-Soviet republics, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said