Thales to help Aeroflot, Armavia master operation of Superjet-100.

ZHUKOVSKY, August 22 (Itar-Tass) -- France's Thales company will
provide assistance to the Russian air carrier Aeroflot and Armenia's
airlines Armavia to master the operation of Sukhoi-Superjet-100 liners,
Thales spokesperson Yekaterina Petrova told Itar-Tass on Friday.

"Our company will help Aeroflot and Armavia to get ready for
commissioning the Sukhoi Superjet-100s. Also it will provide assistance to
the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft obtain the Russian certificate, and then the
certificate of the European Aviation Safety Agency.
According to earlier reports, Aeroflot and Armavia would be the first
airlines to start operating serially produced Superjets on the commercial
basis.
Thales recalled that the Sukhoi Superjet-100 was one of its main
projects in Russia. The French group provides the full set of on-board
electronics, including cockpit presentation information equipment, the
comprehensive onboard electronics platform, and communication, navigation
and observation means.
The Sukhoi Superjet-100 is not the sole project that is being
implemented in Russia with Thales assistance. Thales Alenia Space has
supplied to the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems thirteen sets of
on-board equipment for communication satellites, created for the federal
state unitarian enterprise Space Communication. TAS provides payloads for
the Khrunichev State Space Research and Industrial Center. At the
beginning of 2009 it concluded a major contract with Gazprom Space Systems
for the supply of two communication satellites Yamal-401 and Yamal-402.
Thales actively cooperates with the Russian arms importer and exporter
Rosoboronexport in providing thermovisors for armored vehicles of Russian
manufacture.

.Jurors in Moscow find defendant guilty of killing Jesuit priest.

MOSCOW, August 22 (Itar-Tass) -- The jury in the Moscow City Court on
Friday said the defendant, Mikhail Orekhov, was guilty of the murder of a
Jesuit priest in Moscow in October 2008, the court's spokesperson, Anna
Usacheva told Itar-Tass.
"The jurors said Orekhov was guilty of the murder of one priest,
Victor Betancourt, but acquitted him of the other murder, that of priest
Otto Messmer," she said. Usacheva said the jurors also said Orekhov did
not deserve clemency.
"The discussion of legal effects of the jurors' verdict at the Moscow
City Court is scheduled for Monday, August 24," Usacheva said.
The two members of the Roman Catholic religious order the Society of
Jesus were killed in an apartment in Moscow's Petrovka Street on October
28, 2008. Both suffered head injuries.
The charges were brought against Tver Region-born Mikhail Orekhov
(y.o.b 1973). He had a previous record of convictions for theft, rapes and
robberies. He told the investigators that he had killed one priest due to
a sudden surge of animosity, and the other one, who entered the apartment
later, with the aim to cover up the crime.

.No serious abuses registered during MAKS-2009 air show - police.

MOSCOW, August 22 (Itar-Tass) -- No cases of serious abuse have been
registered during the MAKS-2009 international air show in Zhukovsky, near
Moscow, the Interior Ministry told Itar-Tass on Friday.
"Since the air show began police have examined 75,000 visitors and
20,000 motor vehicles," the police source said. "As a result of these
measures 680 items were not allowed into the area of the air show and were
confiscated.
On Thursday alone police patrols barred 214 motor vehicles and over
330 visitors without the required passes.
"A total force of 3,000 police is responsible for maintaining law,
order and security at the air show," the Interior Ministry's official said.
Several ambulance vans are on duty. Over the past three days they
provided first aid to 53 visitors, including three children.

.Death toll from Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydro disaster up to 64.

SAYANO-SHUSHENSKAYA HYDRO, August 22 (Itar-Tass) -- The confirmed
death toll from last Monday's disaster at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydro
has been up to 64, a spokesman for the crisis management center told
Itar-Tass. Eleven people remain unaccounted for.
At the moment Emergency Situations Ministry specialists and other
services are working at the 310th meter mark of the machine hall. The
debris are continue to be cleared away and water is being pumped out.