Main news of August 3

WORLD

*Ukrainian authorities plan to build a rehab center for bears illegally kept at roadside restaurants and cafes and given vodka and beer to attract visitors, the Ukrainian National News agency said

*Differences between Russian and Polish reports into the plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski, will not affect bilateral relations, Polish Senate speaker Bogdan Borusewicz said

*Japanese farmers from areas damaged by the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster, where bans on meat supplies were recently imposed, have demanded compensation from the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)

*Leasingtechtrans signed a letter of intent to acquire 50 An-148 and An-158 short-haul airliners from state-run ANTK Antonov

*Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak pleaded not guilty of abuse of office, corruption and ordering the killing of protesters during February’s uprising in a trial in Cairo

*The networks of 72 companies and organizations, including the United Nations and governments, were hacked in the biggest series of cyber attacks to date revealed by security vendor McAfee

*The mayor of Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, has been filmed crushing an illegally parked Mercedes car by driving an armored vehicle onto it

*Iraq will begin negotiating a deal with Washington to keep U.S. military instructors in the country after American troops leave, the Iraqi foreign minister said

*The United States is exploring tough new sanctions against Syria in a bid to force it to cease its “brutality” against protesters, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said

*A judge denied a request to end an arms trafficking case against Russian businessman Viktor Bout and his trial will begin as scheduled, a lawyer told RIA Novosti

RUSSIA

*Two Russian cosmonauts left the International Space Station (ISS) for a six-hour spacewalk on Wednesday during which they plan to carry out a manual launch of a mini-satellite and install new stream video equipment on the station’s outer surface

*Russian renowned pianist Nikolai Petrov, who suffered a stroke in May during his Belarusian concert, died on Wednesday at the age of 68, the musician’s assistant said

*The defense lawyers of the mother of Hermitage Capital investment fund Sergei Magnitsky who died in a pre-detention center said the evidence in his death case was falsified, the fund’s press service said

*A Moscow court rejected ex-mayor Yury Luzhkov’s libel suit against the Life News group

*Russian police have arrested two men on suspicion of blinding a pilot with a laser pen as he was landing a plane carrying 115 passengers at an airport in the southern Russian town of Gelendzhik

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