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Main news of July 8

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A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours 08.07.2010, Sputnik International

2010-07-08T19:56+0000

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Main news of July 8

19:56 GMT 08.07.2010

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

Russia:

*The State Duma Defense Committee advised the lower house of the Russian parliament to ratify a new strategic arms reduction deal with the U.S.

* Neither the Russian Defense Ministry nor the General Staff is drafting a new missile defense pact with the United States, a senior military official said

* Russia's Armed Forces will test-launch up to 12 ballistic missiles a year over the next decade, a top military official said

* The inter-theater redeployment of aircraft during Vostok-2010 was one of the key events of the strategic war games, which end today. The Su-24 Fencer and Su-34 Fullback tactical bombers used midair refueling to fly to the Russian Far East

* Vice Adm. Vladimir Korolyov has been appointed the new commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, a fleet staff officer said

* Russian paratroopers have returned to their home base in Russia from Kyrgyzstan, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said

* The issue of creating a new Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan's south is still on the agenda, the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said

* Acclaimed Russian pianist Mikhail Pletnev pledged to return to Thailand to clear his name over child sex abuse charges

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will discuss cooperation in oil and gas with Vietnam's leader, a Kremlin source said

* Three employees of a southern Russian summer camp were drinking while children in their care drowned, investigators said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said many Russians were ready to receive online electronic public services

* Over 20,000 Russians have applied for passports via the Internet, the Russian media and communications minister told Russia 24 TV channel

* A book of tips aimed at helping newcomers settle in Moscow may be issued in the form of a comic, the chairman of the Russian capital's interregional relations and national policy committee said

World:

* An agreement between the United States and Kazakhstan on railway transit of U.S. "special cargo" to Afghanistan came into force after being published in official newspapers

* Final tests were completed at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Iran ahead of the scheduled launch in mid-September, Russia's Atomstroyexport said in a statement

* Kyrgyz authorities plan to allocate $100 million from a Russian loan received in 2009 to restore the violent-hit southern regions back to normal, a deputy prime minister from the country's interim government said

* Kyrgyzstan announced it has lifted the police checkpoints surrounding its capital Bishkek after the stabilization of the social and political situation in the Central Asian country

* Fifty Russian BTR-70 armored personnel carriers (APC) destined for the Palestinian National Authority have been delivered to Jordan, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov said

* Ukraine expects to sign an intergovernmental agreement with Belarus on the transit of Venezuelan oil by the end of this week, Ukraine's fuel and energy ministry said

* The Ukrainian parliament ratified an agreement on the demarcation of the Russian-Ukrainian border

* The South Stream gas pipeline project, which is due to transit Russian gas to Europe bypassing Ukrainian territory, is pointless, Ukraine's foreign minister said

* Moldova's Constitutional Court postponed until July 12 a hearing on the legitimacy of a decree establishing Soviet Occupation Day proposed by the country's acting president, a chief justice said

* Igor Sutyagin, a Russian scientist jailed for spying for the U.S., arrived in the Austrian capital of Vienna, his lawyer said

Business:

* Russia's Gazprom has signed a $190 million contract with FMC Technologies oil service company from the U.S. for equipment supplies for the Kirinsky gas deposit development on the Sakhalin shelf, FMC said

* The Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency said that auctions for the development of two oil and gas deposits in central Russia have failed due to the lack of bids

* International rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has confirmed the long-term credit rating for Delance Ltd., the holding company for Russia's largest auto dealer group Rolf, the agency said

* Italy's largest power company Enel may take part in Russia's Skolkovo innovation hub, the company's CEO Fulvio Conti said

* The Russian Antimonopoly Service has started proceedings against steel and mining company Evraz, the Raspadskaya Coal Company and the Severstal steel giant over differences in export and domestic coal prices, the service said

* Russia’s Rosneft oil company will not abandon plans to carry out exploratory work at Sakhalin Island in spite of appeals from environmental organizations, the World Wildlife Fund website said