Main news of August 30

WORLD

* An estimated 50,000 people have perished in the Libyan uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, a military commander with the country’s ruling transitional council said

* The NATO operation in Libya is still necessary and will continue as long as threats to civilians remain, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said

* The Japanese parliament elected Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda the country’s new prime minister, following the resignation of Naoto Kan

* A U.S. woman who poured hot sauce into her adopted Russian son’s mouth has been given a 180-day suspended jail sentence and a $2,500 suspended fine by a U.S. district court in Alaska

RUSSIA

* A suicide bomber killed two police officers on Tuesday evening in the Chechen capital of Grozny, police said

* A malfunction of the Briz-M upper-stage rocket reportedly caused the failure of a Proton-M rocket launch two weeks ago, Russian space agency Roscosmos said

BUSINESS

* Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft and U.S. energy giant Exxon Mobil signed a strategic cooperation agreement

* Ukraine will slash its gas purchases from Russia by two-thirds in the next few years, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said

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