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RUSSIA * The president of the south Russian republic of North Ossetia asked foreign ambassadors for their support in uniting the province with South Ossetia, a... 20.05.2008, Sputnik International

2008-05-20T18:13+0000

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Main news of May 20

18:13 GMT 20.05.2008

RUSSIA

* The president of the south Russian republic of North Ossetia asked foreign ambassadors for their support in uniting the province with South Ossetia, a neighboring breakaway republic in Georgia

* Russia started developing tactical laser weapons before the United States and has several prototypes of high-precision combat chemical lasers in its arsenal, a defense industry source said

* Russia's Northern Fleet will dispatch ships and submarines on tours of duty to various regions of the world's oceans in 2008, the fleet's commander said

* Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the genocide trial of an 88-year-old Soviet war hero in Estonia

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for reforms in Russia's judicial system to prevent bribery and corruption, and make the courts truly independent

* Russian law enforcers searched the Moscow office of British oil major BP as part of an ongoing investigation, a spokesman for the company said

WORLD

* Georgia's ambassador to Russia gave firm assurances that his country has no intention of resorting to military action to regain control over its breakaway region of Abkhazia

* Bosnia and Herzegovina's High Representative office should be closed as soon as possible and all power transferred from international organizations to the country's legal authorities, Russia's UN envoy said

* The Boeing Company said it has fired a high-energy chemical laser aboard a C-130H aircraft in ground tests for the first time

* The U.S. State Department said it is deeply concerned over the deteriorating health of an American lawyer in custody in Belarus, and urged Belarusian authorities to respond to a release plea

* Brazil and Russia are preparing a bilateral agreement on allowing visa-free travel for tourists and businessmen, a Brazilian diplomatic source said

* The approval by Britain's parliament of the creation of human-animal embryos for scientific research met with mixed reactions from the country's media

BUSINESS

* Azerbaijan's state-owned oil company GNKAR said it had completed building an oil pipeline along the bottom of the Caspian Sea for a major Russian crude producer

* Russian energy giant Gazprom received permission from the Belgian authorities to supply natural gas to the European country's major industrial enterprises, the Belgian newspaper De Tijd said

* The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office ordered the country's environmental protection ministry to revoke its decision to annul a U.S. oil company's mineral license, the office said

* A deal to buy the Kovykta gas condensate field in East Siberia for around $1 billion was put off for an indefinite period, a spokesman for Russian energy giant Gazprom said

* Skoda Auto, the Czech Republic's largest auto producer, said its car sales in Russia grew 75% in January-April to 14,200 vehicles