A Proton-M carrier rocket bearing three Glonass-M navigation satellites will be launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on September 2, Russia's space agency said on Friday. Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.

"Preparation work on one of the three Glonass-M satellites is presently being completed at the Baikonur space center," Roskosmos said in a statement.



The two other satellites will be ready for launch by the end of August.



Glonass

...

The organizing committee of the 2010 European Athletics Championships said 35,890 spectators gathered at the Olympic stadium in Barcelona on Friday, the fourth day of the competitions, Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.


"With a capacity of 32,000 set for the championships, media and VIPs boosted the number, with the line-up of finals exciting the crowd on a balmy summer evening in Barcelona," the official website of the championship reported.


Organizers say that the...

The death toll in an explosion at a coal mine in Linfen City of north China's Shanxi Province early Saturday has risen to 15, local authorities said.


At least 20 others were injured as of 9 a.m. in the blast at Liugou Coal Mine of Yicheng County, but the casualty number could further rise, said a senior official of Yangquan Coal Industry (Group) Co. Ltd, which owns the coal mine.


The official said the blast occurred at the dormitory area instead of the earlier reported ...

The White House on Friday implored the website WikiLeaks to stop posting secret Afghanistan war documents and the Pentagon pressed its investigation of the leaks, bringing a soldier charged with handing over classified video back to the US for trial, Kazinform refers to Arab News.


Obama administration officials said the investigation into the release of 76,911 documents could extend beyond members of the military. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said posting the war logs on the W...

Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), USA, Inc., announced on Thursday that it intends to conduct a voluntary safety recall involving approximately 373,000 2000-2004 Model Year Toyota Avalons sold in the United States to address the possibility that the vehicle's steering lock bar could break under certain conditions; Kazinform refers to China Daily.



No other Toyota or Lexus vehicles are involved in this recall, according to Toyota USA.



This action follows an announcement made ...

Two Russian Tu-95MS Bear-H strategic bombers have carried out a record-breaking 40-hour patrol over three oceans, an Air Force spokesman said; Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.



"The Tu-95MS bombers carried out patrols over the Arctic, the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans and set a new flight duration record of about 40 hours, exceeding the previous record by four hours," Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik said at a news briefing on Thursday.



The crews practiced instrume...

South African President Jacob Zuma plans to sign high-tech contracts during his visit to Russia on August 4-6; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.



"An important topic which I would like to discuss in Russia is cooperation in the spheres where our country possesses rich experience and advanced technologies. I hope contracts will be concluded during the visit in the sphere of science, energy, and mineral wealth mining," he said in an interview with Itar-Tass and Russia TV chann...

Wildfires burned 44 houses in the Moscow Region overnight, a source at the Russian Emergencies Ministry's information department informed, Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.



The blaze destroyed 44 houses in the Kolomna, Lukhovitsy and Krasnogorsk districts.



Twenty houses burned up in the village of Mokhovoye, the Lukhovitsy district. The source said 134 people were evacuated. Most of them stay in their relatives' homes at present.



Twelve houses burned up ...

Energy Minister of Kyrgyzstan Osmonbek Artykbaev said that Kazakhstan had allocated humanitarian aid in the form of fuel resources for Kyrgyzstan at the meeting on preparing sectors of the economy and population of the country to the autumn-winter period of 2010-2011.



According to the Minister Kazakhstan is to send to Kyrgyzstan 400 thousand tons of coal, 40 thousand tons of oil-fuel and 50 thousand tons of diesel oil.



In accordance with the materials of the Ministr...

Kazakhstan to take part in 17th ITS World Congress in Busan

ASTANA. July 28. KAZINFORM Vice Minister of Transport and Communications Dulat Kuterbekov has met with Vice Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Intelligent Transportation Systems World Congress Chang-se Kim today.



The sides discussed the organization issues of the 17 ITS World Congress scheduled for October 25-26, 2010 in Busan. About 2000 officials from European and Asian states are expected to take part i...

Ambassador of Thailand to Russia and Kazakhstan Chalermpol Thanchitt is confident in Kazakhstan's successful presidency in the Organization of Islamic Conference in 2011.



As the press service of the Kazakh Embassy in Russia informs, Head of the diplomatic mission Zautbek Turisbekov received Ambassadors of Thailand and Serbia Chalermpol Thanchitt and Elitsa Kuryak also representing their countries in Kazakhstan.



Z. Turisbekov informed the foreign diplomats of the cou...

The three fastest men in the world at present, including world 100m record holder Usain Bolt from Jamaica, will meet here next month, organizers said on Wednesday.



Bolt, his Jamaican compatriot Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay from the United States are set to race at the Stockholm meet on August 6, the meet director Rajne Soderberg said.



It will be the first time for them to compete together since the 100m final at last year's world championships in Berlin where Bolt set...

A military cargo plane with four people on board crashed at Elmendorf Air Force Base in the U.S. state of Alaska, local media reported Wednesday.



The conditions of the four on the C-17 cargo plane are still unknown, Anchorage Daily News quoting sources with the U.S. Air Force as saying.



The plane was on a "local training mission" when it crashed at 6:14 p.m. local time (0114 GMT), the newspaper said.



Initial reports showed that the plane had...

Canada has cancelled the passport of a suspected Russian spy who fled after being released on bail in Cyprus, the Toronto Star has reported, Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.



Christopher Metsos was detained on June 29, two days after the U.S.-Russian spy scandal broke out following the announcement by the U.S. authorities that they had detained 10 people on charges of espionage on behalf of Russia.



Metsos was put on a wanted list as an 11th alleged spy. A day afte

...

The first round of talks on Iceland's accession to the European Union will take place in Brussels later on Tuesday; Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.



The European Parliament supported on July 7 the proposal by the European Commission to begin negotiations on the issue. The foreign ministers of the 27 EU member states approved the European Commission's recommendation in June.



The negotiations are expected to last from 12 to 18 months.



Before the star

...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has sent a message of congratulation to President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on successful performance of Astana team in Tour de France, the world's most prestigious race, and victory of Alberto Contador in general classification. Diplomatic Adviser to the French  President  Jean-David Levitte made it public at a working meeting with Chairman SamrukKazyna National Welfare Fund, President of the Kazakhstan Cycling Federation Kairat Kelimbetov

...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed Monday that the 78-year-old French hostage Michel Germaneau, who was kidnapped in April, has been killed by a North African wing of al-Qaida, according to a declaration by the Elysee Palace, Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

After a defence and security meeting on the issue, which was attended by Prime Minister Francois Fillon, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux and other concerned high profile officials in the morn

...

The United Nations Human Rights Council today announced the names of the three experts who will serve on a fact-finding mission to investigative violations of international law resulting from Israel's interception of a flotilla of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip, which led to the deaths of nine civilians.

Judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips of Trinidad and Tobago, Sir Desmond de Silva of the United Kingdom and Mary Shanthi Dairiam of Malaysia will comprise the panel, the Council's Preside

...

On July 15-17, a high-ranking delegation from Kazakhstan led by the Minister of Economic Development and Trade Ms. Zhanar Aitzhanova visited Brussels, Belgium, to hold bilateral consultations with the European Union on Kazakhstan's accession to the World Trade Organization. At her meeting with European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht Minister Aitzhanova informed her counterpart of the completion of Kazakhstan's bilateral negotiations with the European Union on goods market access in rel

...

Seven of the 91 European banks that underwent stress tests have failed the healthchecks, the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) has said; Kazinform refers to BBC.



They include five Spanish banks - Diada, Espiga, Banca Civica, Unnim and Cajasur. The other two were Germany's Hypo Real Estate and Greece's ATEbank.



The tests assessed banks' ability to survive future economic shocks.



The seven banks would need a total of 3.5bn euros of new ca...

The joint military drill by the U.S. and South Korean army "is against the sovereignty of the DPRK ( Democratic People's Republic of Korea)", a DPRK spokesman told reporters Friday at a regional security forum here.



"It is a threat to the Korean peninsula and the region of Asia as a whole, and the DPRK's position is there will be physical response to the threat imposed by the United States militarily," Ri Tong Il, spokesman for the DPRK delegation at the ASEAN ...

It looks like an iPad, only it's 1/14th the cost: India has unveiled the prototype of a $35 basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011; Kazinform refers to China Daily.



If the government can find a manufacturer, the Linux operating system-based computer would be the latest in a string of "world's cheapest" innovations to hit the market out of India, which is home to the 100,000 rupee ($2,127) compact Nano car, the 749 r

...

The International Energy Agency announced that China surpassed the United States as the world's biggest energy consumer. Implications are multiple: Vast amounts of pollution; Beijing's increased influence in energy markets; effect on just about everything from car design to construction, to public transportation, to power plant design.

In 2009 China consumed 2,252 metric tons of oil equivalent of energy from coal, nuclear power, hydropower, oil and natural gas; about 4 percent more th...

The number of subscribers of pay TV topped 1 mln in the Central Asian part of the CIS.



Kazakhstan leads in the amount of subscribers which 67 percent of the citizens and only 3 percent in Kyrgyzstan according to research company J'son & Partners Consulting.



Excluding Russia the total number of pay TV subscribers in the CIS reached 6 bln.



Countries of European part of the CIS take considerable part of the market which is 63 percent or 3.7 mln su

...

Four people were injured during an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale that hit southern Iran's Fars Province near the Persian Gulf coast at 1938 GMT on Tuesday. Kazinform refers to Xinhua.



The earthquake, at a depth of 9 kilometers, is 27 degrees North Latitude and 53.9 degrees East Longitude, according to the Iranian Seismological Center's website.



Within 21 minutes after the magnitude-5.8 quake, another two earthquakes measuring 5.2 and 4.1 respectively...

Finland has granted 250,000 euros to support the organization of Afghanistan's upcoming parliamentary election in September, said the Finnish Foreign Ministry on Monday, Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

According to a statement released by the ministry, the purpose of the support is to contribute to a successful electoral process in Afghanistan through the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) Electoral Fund.

The ministry said that supporting democratic development in ...

NATO said on Sunday it had intercepted a letter from fugitive Taleban leader Mulla Omar in which he called for any Afghan supporting their country's government to be captured or killed, Kazinform refers to Arab News.

Omar had issued the directive in June, NATO spokesman Brig. Josef Blotz said, adding that the Taleban chief was believed to be in hiding in neighboring Pakistan.

"The message was from Mulla Omar, who is hiding i...

The parliament of Bashkortostan on Monday named Rustem Khamitov as new president of the southwestern Russian republic.

All 105 deputies from the 120-seat parliament who were present at the meeting voted unanimously for Khamitov, an ex-top manager at Russia's largest hydro energy company, RusHydro,

Khamitov, 55, replaces Murtasza Rakhimov, who had headed the country since 1993 and has taken early retirement.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accepted Rakhmiov's resig...

Government officials and policymakers from Asia and the Pacific have concluded a United Nations-organized meeting by adopting a course of action for environmentally sustainable economic growth, ahead of a key ministerial conference to be held in September in Kazakhstan.



At the two-day regional preparatory meeting in Muju, Republic of Korea, participants underlined that a number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region had responded to the global food, financial and fuel crises with...

France striker Thierry Henry announced his retirement from international soccer on Thursday; Kazinform refers to China Daily.



The 32-year-old former Arsenal and Barcelona striker, who signed for Major League Soccer (MLS) side New York Redbulls on Wednesday, played only a bit-part in France's World Cup campaign in South Africa, which ended at the group stage.



"I made up my mind before the World Cup. South Africa did not play a part in my decision. I could have a...