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Main news of February 17

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RUSSIA * Al-Qaeda, the international terrorist organization, has not become weaker but gained in strength, while hundreds of similar extremist groups have... 17.02.2009, Sputnik International

2009-02-17T19:14+0000

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Main news of February 17

19:14 GMT 17.02.2009

RUSSIA

* Al-Qaeda, the international terrorist organization, has not become weaker but gained in strength, while hundreds of similar extremist groups have emerged worldwide, a Russian presidential representative said

* Moscow's mayor criticized the Russian government's economic policies amid the financial crisis and called for a bigger state role in the economy in an interview published by a business daily

* Chechen separatist leader Akhmed Zakayev, who lives in self-imposed exile in Britain, said he was resolved to return to Chechnya and "work for a lasting peace" in the region

* A governmental re-evaluation of the budget for Russia's 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics will allow expenditure to be cut by 300 billion rubles ($8.6 billion), a deputy prime minister said

WORLD

* Ukraine warned Russian Ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin that he could be expelled from the country over "unfriendly and extremely undiplomatic assessments, comments and statements regarding Ukraine and its leadership"

* A Bahamas-flagged cruise ship with 104 people onboard ran aground off Antarctica, an Argentine news channel reported

* A Russian Navy spokesman said media reports were exaggerating the scope of an oil spill off the coast of Ireland

* Japan's premier accepted the resignation of the country's finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa, after his unusual behavior at a G7 press conference in Rome at the weekend led to speculation he was drunk

BUSINESS

* China is set to extend $25 billion in loans to Russian state-controlled crude producer Rosneft and pipeline operator Transneft at 6% per annum in exchange for long-term oil supplies, a source close to negotiations said

* Russia's antimonopoly regulator launched suits against the country's largest crude producers - TNK-BP, Gazprom Neft, LUKoil and Rosneft - over fuel market violations in late 2008