WORLD
* A total of 24 people, including eight servicemen, were killed in Syria over the past 24 hours during clashes between protesters and troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, the Al Arabiya TV channel said, quoting the opposition Syrian Revolution Coordination Union.
* France and its partners at the UN Security Council are working to draft a resolution to unfreeze Libyan assets blocked by UN sanctions, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said
* Four Italian journalists, abducted on Wednesday in Libya, were freed the Italian Foreign Ministry said
* Tripoli has $10 billion worth of gold reserves, which runaway Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi could use to cause problems for the rebels, a former Central Bank governor said
* The League of Arab States recognized Libya’s Transitional Council and is ready to grant it membership of the organization, regional media quoted Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Araby as saying
RUSSIA
* The Russian Foreign Ministry denied that it has received an invitation from France to take part in an international conference of “friends of Libya,” which will take place in Paris on September 1
* Russia’s space agency Roscosmos is discussing proposals on how to fulfill the country’s obligations to deliver crews to and from the International Space Station (ISS) after the loss of the Progress M-12M space freighter
* Prosecutors in the south Siberian city of Barnaul have brought charges over billboards advertising a sexual health clinic which featured President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and a regional governor
BUSINESS
* The International Monetary Fund has postponed a mission to Ukraine to unfreeze a $15 billion program from late August to October, Special Advisor to the IMF Managing Director David Lipton said on Thursday, in response to Kiev delaying an increase in the retirement age
* The output of the reactors of Iran’s first nuclear power at Bushehr has been increased to 40 percent of its capacity, Russia’s Atomstroyexport, the contractor of the project, said
* Kazakhmys Plc, the largest copper producer in Kazakhstan, will sell Kazakhmys Petroleum oil division to focus on the company’ core activity of copper mining, the firm’s board of directors said without disclosing the buyer