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Main news of February 27

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RUSSIA * Russia's fleet of military transport aircraft has become dangerously obsolete and by 2015 the country may be left without military cargo planes... 27.02.2008, Sputnik International

2008-02-27T19:12+0000

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Main news of February 27

19:12 GMT 27.02.2008

RUSSIA

* Russia's fleet of military transport aircraft has become dangerously obsolete and by 2015 the country may be left without military cargo planes, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said

* The construction of a new space center in Russia's Far East should not affect launches at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, the head of the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) said

* North Korean authorities released a Russian cargo ship seized on Saturday in the Sea of Japan, a regional rescue service official said

* Russia is ready to resume air flights with Georgia from March 30, after they were frozen in 2006, a source in Russia's Federal Air Navigation Service said

* Russia's Foreign Ministry denied that the country had reached a secret deal with Georgia to never recognize its breakaway regions

* Russia's Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) will deploy 11 new silo and mobile-launched Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2008, the SMF commander said

WORLD

* The Turkish Army will set no timeline on the withdrawal of its troops from northern Iraq until the Kurdish separatist threat has been eliminated, a Turkish government spokesman said

* Russia could support a new UN Security Council resolution on Iran if the Islamic Republic does not stop uranium enrichment, the Russian envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said

* The United States and the Czech Republic are close to signing a deal on a radar placement as part of the U.S. missile shield plans for Central Europe, American President George W. Bush said

* The UN mission in Kosovo has drafted a plan to hand over power to a new European Union mission and the local government, the UN mission press secretary said

* An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale hit the U.K, shaking homes in Newcastle, Yorkshire, London, Manchester, the Midlands and Norfolk

* Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is ready to meet with the Israeli premier in Moscow to discuss a peace agreement between their countries, the Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat said

* Around 1,300 people have died as freezing weather continues to cause havoc in Afghanistan with heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures hitting 17 of the country's 34 provinces, local authorities said

* China's southern province of Guangdong announced the death of a 44-year-old woman from bird flu, China's Xinhua news agency said

* Kosovo is preparing documentation to enable it to gain membership to major international organizations, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed state, Hashim Thaci, said

BUSINESS

* Ukraine has paid over $1 billion to Gazprom to clear its debts for Russian gas supplies in 2007, the country's First Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchinov said

* Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service approved a deal for France's Renault to buy a blocking stake in Russia's largest carmaker AvtoVAZ, the service's chief said

* Russia's environmental watchdog is demanding that Norilsk Nickel pay $178 million in compensation after it was accused of polluting Siberian rivers, the agency said