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RUSSIA * President Dmitry Medvedev marked his first year in office on Thursday with speculation still intense over who runs Russia - the new president, or the... 07.05.2009, Sputnik International

2009-05-07T18:13+0000

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Main news of May 7

18:13 GMT 07.05.2009

RUSSIA

* President Dmitry Medvedev marked his first year in office on Thursday with speculation still intense over who runs Russia - the new president, or the old one, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev marked on Thursday the first anniversary of his inauguration and vowed to continue the fight against corruption by taking the effort under his personal control

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that he hoped the work of the Russia-NATO Council would be resumed in the near future

* The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a post-Soviet security group, expanded at a meeting on Thursday its list of terrorist and extremist organizations to 31, a CSTO spokesman said

* President Dmitry Medvedev has approved amendments to give regional parliaments the right to dismiss mayors, part of his reform to democratize Russia's political system, the Kremlin said

* Moscow authorities have once again refused to allow a gay parade to take place in the Russian capital, the mayor's press secretary said

* A pair of Russian Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers have carried out a routine patrol flight over the North Atlantic and the Arctic, an Air Force spokesman said

* A man suspected of involvement in the murder of a French businessman and his family in central Moscow has been arrested in Kazakhstan, Russian investigators said

* A committee at Russia's space training center, Star City, have announced the crew line up for the 20th Expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), a RIA Novosti correspondent said

* Russia does not plan to cut budget spending on the development of the country's nuclear deterrent despite the ongoing economic crisis, the defense minister said

* Russia's food safety regulator Rosselkhoznadzor has lifted a ban on pork imports from five U.S. states imposed earlier due to the spread of the A/H1N1 flu virus

* Two Canadian diplomats employed at NATO offices in Moscow have been given until mid-May to leave the country, a Russian diplomatic source said

WORLD

* Russian steel giant Severstal announced on Thursday operational changes at its facilities in the United States due to deteriorating economic conditions and a further decline in orders from customers

* Georgian opposition leaders on Thursday gave President Mikheil Saakashvili three days to meet with them to discuss early elections

* All eight crew members of a Dutch freighter seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden are Ukrainian nationals, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said

* Russian scientists have developed tests to detect the A/H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, a department head at the Epidemiology Central Research Institute said

* Hundreds of Afghans took to the streets on Thursday protesting civilian deaths after a recent NATO airstrike in the western Afghan province of Farah, local media said

* Ten people were killed and another ten injured in a blaze caused by an explosion in a slot machine arcade in east Ukraine early on Thursday, a local emergencies spokesman said

* Twenty-three people injured in clashes between the police and opposition in Georgia are still in hospital, Georgia's opposition said

BUSINESS

* Russia's two main stock exchanges, MICEX and the RTS, demonstrated strong share growth on Thursday, with their key indexes rising above psychologically important levels

* Russian energy giant Gazprom confirmed on Thursday that it had received payment from Ukraine's national energy company Naftogaz for natural gas supplied in April

SPORT

* World No. 1 Dinara Safina came back from a set down on Thursday to reach the semifinals at the Italian Open in Rome, keeping alive the chances of an all-Russian final

* Svetlana Kuznetsova kept her nerve to ride a fast start and beat former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic in straight sets on Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Italian Open in Rome