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Main news of May 8

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RUSSIA * Russia's lower house of parliament approved Vladimir Putin as prime minister, a day after he stepped down as president following eight years... 08.05.2008, Sputnik International

2008-05-08T18:00+0000

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Main news of May 8

18:00 GMT 08.05.2008

RUSSIA

* Russia's lower house of parliament approved Vladimir Putin as prime minister, a day after he stepped down as president following eight years as head of state

* The Russian Foreign Ministry has made no comment on the alleged expulsion from Moscow of two U.S. military attaches working at the American Embassy in Russia

* Russia's lower house of parliament adopted amendments to the law on entry into and exit from Russia, allowing the president to simplify visa laws as and when he deems fit

* Russia should give Serbia legal support with its plans to appeal to an international court Kosovo's declaration of independence, a senior Russian MP said

* Russia's Navy denied media reports that a parade by the Black Sea Fleet in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol in honor of its 225th anniversary has been canceled

* Workers at a chemical plant in Russia's mid-Urals suspended a hunger strike after management promised to pay them all the money they were owed in wages arrears by June 10, a local trade union spokesman said

* One of Vladimir Putin's last actions as head of state was to sign a decree implementing a UN Security Council resolution imposing new sanctions against Iran

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will visit China on May 23-24, the official spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry said

* Efforts by the European Union to take over policing in Kosovo from the United Nations in June are only fanning tensions in the region, a deputy Russian foreign minister said

* Two Russian Il-76 airplanes are to deliver 60 metric tons of humanitarian aid to Myanmar, as the Southeast Asian country attempts to recover from a cyclone that has left some 100,000 people dead and thousands homeless, an emergencies spokesperson said

* Russian police killed early a militant who was reported to have been planning an attack during the upcoming May 9 Victory Day celebrations in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, a local police spokesman said

WORLD

* Some 1.5 million people have been "severely affected" by the Nargis tropical cyclone that hit Myanmar at the weekend, a UN official said

* North Korea has warned that a new war on the Korean peninsula could occur should South Korea's conservative government continue aggravating tensions

* The defense minister of Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia said Abkhazia has shot down a Georgian surveillance drone, the fifth since the beginning of the year, but Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili immediately denied the report

* Embassies of the CIS countries in Austria sent a protest note to the Austrian Foreign Ministry over an act of vandalism recently committed at a Red Army monument in Vienna, a Russian diplomatic source said

* The threat of war between Georgia and Russia is still relevant, the president of the ex-Soviet Caucasus state said

* Envoys of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said last weekend's talks in China to end the crisis in Tibet brought no progress

* The British Embassy in Moscow said that Zenit St. Petersburg soccer fans travelling to Manchester next week for the UEFA Cup final will not have to pay for their visas

* Thailand has received an official request from Washington to extradite an alleged Russian arms dealer to the U.S. where he has been indicted on charges of conspiracy to kill Americans, the Russian Embassy in Bangkok said

* A bus carrying more than 40 passengers veered off a mountain road in north India and fell into a river, killing at least 15 people, the IANS news agency reported

* Georgia's defense minister denied that the country planned to wage war against its breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sent a message to Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert congratulating them on Israel's 60th Independence Day, the Kremlin said

* The number of children infected with hand, foot and mouth disease in China has risen to 20,000, the Xinhua news agency said

* U.S. President George Bush expects to have a "good relationship" with new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Bush's national security advisor has said

* At least 29 people were killed when a coach skidded off a mountain road in the Andes, plunging some 100-meters (300-feet) into the river below, the ANDINA news agency reported

BUSINESS

* Russia registered a $1.3 bln trade deficit with the United States in 2007 for the first time in seven years, the economics ministry said

* The price of oil could reach $200 per barrel if current market conditions persist, Iran's oil minister said

* Russia's largest steel producer Severstal said it had finalized a deal to purchase the U.S.-based Sparrows Point steel mill from ArcelorMittal for $810 million