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Main news of March 25

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RUSSIA * Outgoing President Vladimir Putin, set to take on the role of prime minister in May, said there were no plans to give extra powers to the premier *... 25.03.2008, Sputnik International

2008-03-25T19:11+0000

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Main news of March 25

19:11 GMT 25.03.2008

RUSSIA

* Outgoing President Vladimir Putin, set to take on the role of prime minister in May, said there were no plans to give extra powers to the premier

* Rebuilding relations with the United Kingdom is in Russia's interests, the country's president-elect, Dmitry Medvedev, said in an interview with The Financial Times published

* The British Council rejected comments made by Russian president-elect Dmitry Medvedev suggesting that the organization is linked to British intelligence-gathering activities

* Russia's largest trade union said it would launch a Europe-wide campaign against Nestle for its "anti-staff" activities in Russia, the trade union's chief said

* The launch of a Russian carrier rocket with a German satellite from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia has been postponed until March 26 due to poor weather, a spokesman for Russia's Space Forces said

* Russian law enforcement agencies have no plans to remove members of a doomsday sect from a cave in central Russia by force, a regional investigator said

* Flights between Georgia and Russia resumed on Tuesday almost 18 months after they were halted amid a spying row between the former Soviet allies

* Russia and Serbia will soon agree on a humanitarian aid package for crisis-hit areas of Kosovo in line with a request from the Serbian government, Russia's ambassador to Belgrade said

WORLD

* The United States will reduce the number of its embassy staff in Belarus in line with Minsk's demands as bilateral relations hit a new low, a top U.S. diplomat in the ex-Soviet state said

* Belarusian riot police arrested dozens of opposition protesters in the capital Minsk, and blocked hundreds of activists from entering a central square

* Israeli authorities are expected to approve the deployment of 600 Palestinian police in the West Bank town of Jenin, national media reported

* The European Union may boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics over "cultural genocide" in Tibet, the European Parliament's president said

* Nepalese police used batons and tear gas to break up a protest of Tibetan monks and refugees outside the Chinese consulate in Kathmandu, and arrested at least 50 people, local media said

* An agreement on the deployment of a U.S. missile defense radar in the Czech Republic may be signed in Prague on May 5, a Czech daily reported

* The U.S. shuttle Endeavour has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) ending its 12-day mission, which saw a record breaking five space walks, a NASA spokesperson said

* A total of 148 employees of Britain's BP working in Russia for TNK-BP have been recalled from the country due to problems with registration, the Russian-British venture said

* Georgian opposition members protesting against the results of the country's January presidential election have agreed to end their hunger strike, which began on March 9

* Scientists in northern Mexico have unearthed evidence of a previously unknown species of plant-eating dinosaur that inhabited the Coahuila desert more than 72 million years ago, national media said

* A Swiss woman was killed and 37 people were injured in a car pile-up near Saltzburg, Austria, as vehicles lost control on thick road ice amid heavy snowfall, local police said

BUSINESS

* Russia and Egypt signed an agreement on cooperation in the civilian nuclear sphere, allowing Russian companies to bid for deals to build nuclear power plants in Egypt

* LUKoil is to take part in Iraqi tenders for new oil and gas projects, Russia's largest independent oil producer said in a statement following a visit to Iraq by its CEO, Vagit Alekperov

* Altimo, the telecoms arm of Russia's Alfa Group, said it had filed a $1bln lawsuit against Norway's Telenor for delaying mobile operator VimpelCom's entry into the Ukrainian market