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Main news of July 4

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RUSSIA * Russia's Foreign Ministry said after mortar fire hit Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia overnight that Georgia's actions amount... 04.07.2008, Sputnik International

2008-07-04T18:07+0000

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Main news of July 4

18:07 GMT 04.07.2008

RUSSIA

* Russia's Foreign Ministry said after mortar fire hit Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia overnight that Georgia's actions amount to "open aggression"

* Russian policemen in the north of the Moscow Region stopped a car carrying 11 kg (24.3 lbs) of pure heroin, arresting two men and confiscating the drugs, a police official said

* Russia could finally relinquish control of two border river islands to China in August, a senior Russian security official said

* Russia's Foreign Ministry denounced as political hypocrisy on Friday Sweden's refusal to extradite to Russia a Chechen man accused of terrorism

* Russian pair Maria Kirilenko and Igor Andreev won their mixed double match at Wimbledon to book a place in the semifinals and a chance to take on the number one seeds

WORLD

* Poland's prime minister said on Friday his country is not satisfied with the terms offered by the U.S. for the deployment of a missile defense base on its soil, but is ready for further dialogue

* Colombian rebels received a $20 million ransom for the "staged" release of 15 hostages, including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. citizens, Swiss media reported Friday

* Five-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer brushed aside Russia's Marat Safin in a clinical 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory in the semifinals, to set up his sixth-straight Wimbledon final appearance

* Russia has begun dock trials of a nuclear submarine, which will be leased in 2009 to the Indian navy for 10 years, a prominent Indian daily reported

* The United States will sign a deal with the Czech Republic to place a missile defense radar in the country in late July, the Czech foreign minister said

* Russia's envoy to the European Union hailed as constructive the start of talks Friday on the long overdue strategic cooperation agreement between Russia and the bloc

* Turkmenistan's president told his Russian counterpart on Friday that his country will honor the commitments it has made on natural gas supplies to Russia up to 2025

* Somali pirates who have taken over a German dry cargo vessel have threatened to kill the crew unless they receive a ransom for the sailors' release, a Ukrainian TV channel reported

* A mysterious illness that has left Britain's top intelligence official in a coma has sparked speculation in the country's tabloids that he could be the victim of a Russian assassination attempt

* The World Boxing Association has approved a heavyweight title fight between former champions Nikolai Valuev of Russia and John Ruiz as the current titleholder Ruslan Chagaev of Uzbekistan is unable to defend it due to health problems

* Russia is concerned over the escalation of violence in South Ossetia and is urging the international community to press Georgia to sign a ceasefire deal with its breakaway regions, Russia's foreign minister said

* A total of 38 people were killed when a ferry capsized and sank in the Yway river in southwestern Myanmar, the country's official newspaper the New Light of Myanmar reported

* NASA is planning to conduct in spring 2009 the first test flight of a new carrier rocket with an advanced launch vehicle to replace the outdated space shuttle, the U.S. space agency said in a statement

* An unexploded bomb has been found near the site of a blast that injured around 50 concert-goers in the Belarusian capital on Thursday evening, the interior minister said

* A 35-year-old man, who had been preliminary diagnosed with anthrax, has died in a hospital in southern Kazakhstan, the republic's emergencies ministry said

* About 50 people were hospitalized after an explosion at an open air concert in downtown Minsk as Belarus celebrated its Independence Day, the republic's health ministry said

* Russia and the European Union will begin the first round of talks on a new wide-ranging cooperation agreement in Brussels on Friday

BUSINESS

* Net capital inflow into Russia stood at $12.3 billion in the first half of 2008, against $68.7 billion in the same period last year, the Central Bank said in a report

* Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has bought a production license for a large cement rock deposit in the Urals and plans to build a $500 million plant, a business daily said on Friday citing a local official

* Petrobras set a new monthly crude output record of 1.867 million barrels per day (bpd) in Brazil in June, the country's largest energy company said