RUSSIA
* Russia started bilateral negotiations with Saudi Arabia on its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), a Russian economics ministry official said
* Forty-five trains traveling the Trans-Siberian Railroad were stopped after a major derailment in the Amur Region in Siberia shut down a section of Russia's only rail line to the Far East, an emergencies ministry spokesman said
* The construction of a new base for the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the port of Novorossiisk will be completed by 2012, the Navy Commander said
* More than 4,300 people are considered missing in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Chechnya since 1994, the republic's human rights ombudsman said
* A foreign fishing vessel operated by a Russian crew was detained for an alleged border violation in the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia's Far East, a local customs house spokeswoman said
* At its last summer session, the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament:
- approved a law establishing the Trans-Baikal Territory as the country's new constituent region
- approved amendments to legislation designed to bolster the fight against extremism
WORLD
* Talks ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program could resume next week with UN monitors flying to the country Saturday to confirm the shutdown of its reactor, South Korea's foreign minister said
* The Pakistani military regained control of the Red Mosque, freeing at least 160 students held hostage there during a weeklong standoff, the army spokesman said
* EU officials said the death sentences passed on six foreign medics for allegedly deliberately infecting children with HIV, upheld in a Libyan court, were unacceptable
* The European Union's foreign policy chief said he expected a new round of talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator to be held later this month, an Iranian news agency said
* Serbia decisively rejects a new draft resolution on the status of Kosovo introduced by Washington for UN Security Council approval as the draft has independence for the province as its main aim, the Serbian prime minister said
* British media quoted a government spokesman chastising Russia over its refusal to extradite a prime suspect in the poisoning of a Russian defector and U.K. national, while Russia has said it was "perplexed" by the British position
* Andrzej Lepper, Polish deputy prime minister and agriculture minister, whose recent dismissal by President Lech Kaczynski has provoked a government crisis, said he plans to return to the Cabinet
* The withdrawal of civilians from the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon will begin in the next two days, the Al Jazeera television channel said
* Heavy rain and storms caused flooding in the south and east of China leaving 131 people dead and 31 missing, with a further 1.2 million people being forced from their homes, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said
BUSINESS
* Russia's federal budget posted an estimated 1.07 trillion rubles ($42 billion) of surplus in January-June 2007, the Finance Ministry's press office said
* Trade between Russia and China is expected to grow from $33 billion in 2006 to about $35 billion in 2007, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said
* Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel said it had extended its cash offer to acquire the common stock of Canada's gold and nickel producer LionOre until July 23
* Mechel, one of Russia's leading mining and metals companies, said its net income, calculated to US GAAP accounting standards, increased 226%, year-on-year, in the first quarter of 2007, to $205 million
* The European Court of Justice has overturned the European Commission's ruling restricting diamond giant De Beers from buying rough diamonds from Russian Alrosa
* Rocket launches under the Sea Launch project could resume in September following the explosion of a Zenit rocket in January that damaged a launch platform, a Russian power machine-building company said
