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Main news of August 7

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RUSSIA * Two people were killed and 15 injured when an explosive device went off Thursday morning on a beach in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi... 07.08.2008, Sputnik International

2008-08-07T18:11+0000

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Main news of August 7

18:11 GMT 07.08.2008

RUSSIA

* Two people were killed and 15 injured when an explosive device went off Thursday morning on a beach in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, investigators said

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on Thursday as the Chinese capital prepared for the August 8 Olympic Games opening ceremony

* Russia condemned the coup in Mauritania and expressed the hope that the northwest African country's constitution would be respected

* The launch of a converted RS-20 Voyevoda intercontinental ballistic missile due to put a Thai earth observation satellite into orbit has been postponed once again, a launch company spokesperson said

* Scientists have located a crack in the bedrock of Siberia's Lake Baikal from which crude oil seeps into the lake, and have discovered a range of organisms living in the oil, an expedition member said

* Russian investigators confirmed that a former commander of the Defense Ministry's Vostok battalion in Chechnya has been put on a federal wanted list

* Russia and Kazakhstan will hold joint combat exercises in the Urals area from September 1 through 5, a Russian military official said

* Russia's Andrei Arshavin, one of the stars of Euro 2008, has gone on strike over his club's refusal to lower their asking price for his move to Tottenham Hotspur, the player's agent has said

* Military personnel make up almost half of the Russian team that will compete at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, a senior military official said

WORLD

* Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said he was prepared to enter into "any kind of talks," in order to find a solution to the current Georgian-South Ossetian conflict

* Radovan Karadzic will aim to prove at the Hague tribunal that no genocide took place in Srebrenica, and that fatality figures were deliberately exaggerated, a Serbian paper said

* Georgia's Foreign Ministry called on Russia to arrange direct talks between Tbilisi and Tskhinvali, the capital of the Georgian breakaway republic of South Ossetia

* The deputy head of the UN nuclear watchdog arrived in Tehran for a two-day visit to discuss prospects for cooperation with Iran's nuclear authorities, Iranian media said

* The Indian Air Force said that India will soon sign a contract with Russia to receive 80 Mi-17 Hip-H multirole helicopters

* Hundreds of homes were damaged in eastern Indonesia after a 6.6-magnitude quake and several aftershocks hit the region, the country's Meteorological and Geophysical Agency (BMG) reported

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) scheduled for August 28 in Tajikistan, The Tehran Times reported

* Belarus has signed a contract with British PR guru Lord Timothy Bell, best known for his role in Margaret Thatcher's three successful election campaigns, to improve Belarus's image abroad

* The launch of India's first unmanned mission to the Moon has been postponed until the middle of October, the head of the Indian space program has said

BUSINESS

* Russia's foreign trade surplus increased 58.2% year-on-year in January-June 2008 to $110.1 billion, the Federal Customs Service said

* Russia's southern power generating company TGK-8 said its net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards increased 260% year-on-year in January-June to 515.6 million rubles ($22 million)

* United Company RusAl, a key shareholder in Norilsk Nickel, asked a regulator to intervene in a dispute over the sale by billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov's investment vehicle Onexim of a stake in the Russian metals giant

* Interros Holding has transferred parts of its stakes in Norilsk Nickel and Polyus Gold to offshore companies, the Russian firms said

* Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom, reported a 2.2% year-on-year increase in crude oil exports in January-June to 7.62 million metric tons (55.9 mln bbls)

* United Company RusAl intends to vote against Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, the former head of Russia's tourism agency, as chief executive of metals giant Norilsk Nickel, the aluminum firm said