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RUSSIA * Two Russian mini-submarines came to the surface of Siberia's Lake Baikal after a record-breaking dive to the bottom of the world's deepest... 29.07.2008, Sputnik International

2008-07-29T18:08+0000

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Main news of July 29

18:08 GMT 29.07.2008

RUSSIA

* Two Russian mini-submarines came to the surface of Siberia's Lake Baikal after a record-breaking dive to the bottom of the world's deepest lake

* Russia has reached second place in the world in terms of the level of safety of its nuclear power industry, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

* A total of 92 children have been hospitalized following an outbreak of food poisoning at a summer camp in Russia's Krasnoyarsk Territory, in East Siberia, Russia's consumers rights watchdog said

* At least 16 workers have been injured in a methane explosion at a southwest Siberian coal mine owned by Russian mining giant Mechel, a senior official in the local branch of the industrial safety regulator said

* President Dmitry Medvedev has named Sergei Kislyak, a deputy foreign minister and Moscow's representative in Iranian nuclear talks, as Russia's new ambassador to the United States

* The head of the Russian state tourism agency, Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, has consented to a provisional offer from Norilsk Nickel to become chief executive of the metals giant, the agency said

* Russian state nuclear power corporation Rosatom has agreed to take part in a tender for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus, the ex-Soviet republic's energy ministry said

* Russia has allocated $4 billion to nanotechnology research over the next four years, the general director of the Russian Rosnanotech state corporation said

* Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service could throw the book at Russian steel producer Evraz Group and mining giant Mechel over their pricing policies, the head of the service said

* Two months after a doomsday sect gave up its underground wait for the apocalypse in central Russia, a new cult has been discovered in the same region, a local official told RIA Novosti

* A Russian Su-27 Flanker air superiority fighter crashed in the Primorye Territory in Russia's Far East, killing one pilot, an Air Force spokesman said

WORLD

* Georgia opened fire morning on two South Ossetian villages after South Ossetia reinforced its positions on the perimeter of the conflict zone, the breakaway region's president, Eduard Kokoity

* Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that there is no effective system preventing the transfer of weapons technology between nuclear powers, and that the UN Security Council is unable to solve global nuclear problems

* Tension in the Mideast region requires active cooperation between Iran and Syria, the Iranian parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, said

* The UN Security Council gathers for closed-door talks to discuss the situation in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia

* Jordan plans to sign nuclear cooperation deals with Russia, the United States and China in the fall, Jordanian Atomic Energy Commission chief Khaled Tukan told reporters

* Supporters of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader awaiting extradition to The Hague on charges of war crimes, agreed to hold a demonstration in the centre of Belgrade later in the day

* Floods triggered by heavy rains in Western Ukraine have resulted in $80 million in losses to the country's agricultural sector, Deputy Agriculture Minister Serhiy Melnyk said

* Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia accused the Georgian authorities of disrupting the region's internationally-sponsored reconstruction program

* The UN General Assembly has approved South African judge Navanethem Pillay, 67, as its new high commissioner for human rights

* The head of BP said that the British oil major would vigorously pursue its interests and not yield to pressure in the ongoing conflict with Russian shareholders in the joint venture TNK-BP

BUSINESS

* Mechel's share price received a boost on Russian trading floors after a positive statement by a Russian first deputy prime minister on the accusations over the metals giant's pricing policy

* Russia's natural gas supplies to Armenia increased 2.8% year-on-year in the first six months of 2008 to 1.1 billion cubic meters, Gazprom's subsidiary in the South Caucasus republic said

* A Russian machinery manufacturer has signed a contract with Iran to supply 1.8 mln euros ($2.82 mln) worth of power generating equipment for a heat and electric power plant, the company said

* Novatek [RTS: NVTK], Russia's largest independent natural gas producer, said its gas output grew 1.9% year-on-year in January-June to 15.19 billion cubic meters

* Oil company Slavneft said that its net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards rose almost 1,700% year-on-year in January-June to 6.52 billion rubles ($277 million)

* Yuzhuralzoloto, a gold mining company with assets in the Urals and Siberia, said its gold output grew 15.4% year-on-year in January-June to 79,400 ounces