Main News of July 16

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

RUSSIA

* Fugitive former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden has submitted an official request for temporary asylum in Russia, a lawyer who provided him with legal assistance said

* Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw military maneuvers in the country’s Far East as part of the largest snap check of combat readiness of the Russian military in the post-Soviet period

* On a scale unmatched since Soviet days, Russian military units have gone ahead with the second stage of an extensive snap check of combat readiness, the chief of Russia’s General Staff said

* About 3,000 people took part in a rally in Yaroslavl to show their support for Mayor Yevgeny Urlashov, arrested on corruption charges last Friday

* The crash of a Russian-operated regional airliner last April that killed 31 people was caused by failure to de-ice the aircraft before flight, a report by crash investigators said

* Combat aircraft took a 40-percent share in overall Russian arms exports in 2012, keeping a trend that has become prominent in the past few years, a senior defense official said

* A Macao gambling magnate is ready to finance construction of a $130 million casino resort in Russia’s Primorye entertainment zone in the Far East, a regional administration spokesman said

WORLD

* A Pennsylvania man who was found guilty of the involuntary manslaughter of his adopted Russian son in 2011 successfully petitioned a judge to expunge part of his record, the York Daily Record reported

* The Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a tiny moon orbiting Neptune, the 14th known to be circling the distant planet, NASA said on its website

* A leak inside an Italian astronaut’s helmet caused NASA to cut short a spacewalk by two crew members of the International Space Station (ISS), making for the second shortest spacewalk in ISS history, the US space agency said

* Russia and Ukraine have blocked a proposal for creating an expansive marine wildlife reserve in the Antarctic because they contest the authority of the organizing commission, a US foundation said

SPORTS

* Russian 19-year-old Daniil Kvyat will get his first taste of Formula One this week after the Toro Rosso team said Tuesday that he would be given a seat at this week’s Young Driver Test