Rescuers find body of Yamal-Region GTRK editor on sunken boat.

YEKATERINBURG, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - Rescuers on Friday found the body
of editor of the Yamal-Region state television and radio company (GTRK)
Neli Longortova on the Yaroslavets boat that sank in the Ob River in the
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area.

The press service of the Urals centre of the Russian Emergency
Situations Ministry told Itar-Tass that Longortova's body was found first,
and then the body of cameraman Viktor Kurtyamov was retrieved from the
sunken boat.
"The body of journalist Natalya Ostanina has not been found so far,
although her belongings were found - a jacket and life vest," said the
press service.
The boat is now in suspension - held by a crane. Water is being pumped
out of the vessel.
Late on July 4, the Yaroslavets boat of the Yamal-Region GTRK with
three crewmembers and six journalist expedition members aboard was on the
way back to Salekhard. The journalists of the Yamal Parallel expedition
gathered materials for a week about fishermen, their summer season work
and fishery development. A gust of wind overturned the boat, and it sank.
A fisherman who was nearby helped six of the people to get out to the
river bank. Criminal proceedings were instituted over violation of water
transport exploitation and navigation safety rules.
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.Ford Vsevolozhsk plant cuts production plan.


ST. PETERSBURG, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - The Ford assembly plant in
Vsevolozhsk outside St. Petersburg is cutting its annual manufacturing
plan from 83 thousand to 44 thousand cars in connection with the
"continuing decline in sales on the automobile market," it is said in a
notification handed to all workers of the enterprise.
The plant's need in personnel will also be lower in this connection.
Chairman of the primary organisation of the Interregional Trade Union of
Workers of Automobile Transport and Automobile Industry Alexei Gutsenko
told Itar-Tass that the last - until the end of the year as a minimum -
night shift worked on Friday. All the plant's workers have been sent on
collective vacation after which a 4-day working week regime will be
introduced. The administration of company motivates this decision by the
wish to preserve the "current number of the workers." In the view of the
company leadership, this "will make it possible to preserve qualified
personnel and in the event of the improvement of the market situation will
allow the plant to return to the normal work regime in the shortest
possible time."
However, Itar-Tass learnt that several dozen workers of Ford
Vsevolozhsk plant have turned to court with an appeal to give a legal
evaluation to such actions of the plant's administration. The date of the
court hearing has not been set yet.
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.Aliyev, Sargsyan to continue Karabakh settlement talks-Merzlikin.


MOSCOW, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - The Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents
intend to continue talks in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement,
Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh Yuri
Merzlikin said on Friday within the framework of enlarged talks on the
conflict peace settlement that were held in the RF capital on Friday with
the participation of the leaders of the two countries - Ilkham Aliyev and
Serzh Sargsyan. The Azerbaijani and Armenian heads of state will by the
results of these talks hold a trilateral meeting with Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev on July 18.
"By the impressions of the presidents and OSCE officials, the
settlement of the Karabakh issue is not ruled out and therefore the
meetings will be continued," Merzlyakov noted. According to him, "In
August co-chair from the United States Matthew Bryza will visit this
region, and in September his French colleague Bernard Fassier will go
there." "After that we will have a joint trip so that in October we could
organise a new meeting of the presidents," he added.
Merzlyakov also said that the issue of participation in the
negotiating process of representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh was not
considered at Friday's talks. "We believe that Nagorno-Karabakh
representatives should participate in the talks at a stage at which the
basic settlement principles are approved," he noted.
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.Russia proposes intl seminar on electronic voting - CEC.


VIENNA, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian side is interested in
continuing the work with the OSCE on international certification of
electronic methods of voting and proposed to hold in Vienna next year an
international seminar on this issue, Chairman of the Russian Central
Election Commission (CEC) Vladimir Churov told Itar-Tass on Friday. He
took part in a two-day seminar on election questions held here under the
auspices of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(ODIHR) and Greek chairmanship in the OSCE.
"The seminar is the result of the initiative put forward some time ago
by Russia and Belarus, and was devoted to the practice of work of the main
election bodies of OSCE member states," Churov said.
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.Washington to encourage Kiev, Tbilisi to coop with NATO-official.

WASHINGTON, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - NATO doors remain open for Ukraine
and Georgia, but chances for their entering these doors in the coming
months and years remain slim, Tony Blinken, National Security Advisor to
US Vice President Joseph Biden, told reporters at a briefing in the run up
to Biden's trip to Kiev and Tbilisi.
In the view of competent observers, Ukraine and Georgia currently have
no prospects for the admission to the North Atlantic Alliance at least
because of objections of European countries, first of all Germany. Even
the former US administration of George W. Bush that was really trying to
do this, failed to overcome these objections.
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.Biden to visit Kiev, Tbilisi to give signal to Moscow - official.


WASHINGTON, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - US Vice President Joseph Biden's
forthcoming trip to Kiev and Tbilisi next week is a signal to Russia that
the United States will also in the future reject the concept of "spheres
of influence" and will support the principle suggesting that sovereign
democracies have the right to make their own decisions and choose partners
and allies for themselves, Biden's National Security Advisor Tony Blinken
told reporters ahead of the trip.