Main News of August 20

WORLD

* In escalating crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s interim authorities have arrested the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, local media reported citing security officials

* Explicit details of the injuries sustained by Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev during the course of the violent manhunt that led to his capture – including a skull-base fracture and a gunshot wound to the face and mouth – have been released in the form of freshly unsealed court documents

* Lithuania advised Belarus not to build a planned nuclear power plant near the two countries’ border, citing a negative assessment by an international environmental agency

* A nationalist statue and one of Communist state founder Vladimir Lenin were defaced in separate attacks in Ukraine this week, continuing a long-running local trend of settling ideological grievances through vandalism

RUSSIA

* US and Russian diplomats will meet in The Hague at the end of August to discuss preparations for the long-delayed Syria peace conference, a Russian diplomatic source said

* Russia’s Defense Ministry postponed the purchase of 37 MiG-35 fighter jets until 2016 because the defense industry cannot fulfill the contract, Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov said

* A senior Russian military official indicated that Russia is in the process of setting up a special force for cyber warfare, tentatively confirming earlier reports citing defense sector officials

* Russia has asked France to extradite a former Moscow Region official suspected of major fraud, Russia’s Deputy Prosecutor General said

BUSINESS

* Russian airline Transaero has added to its list of partners offering connecting flights in the United States by signing an interline agreement with California-based Virgin America, according to an official statement from Transaero