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Main news of February 12

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A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours 12.02.2010, Sputnik International

2010-02-12T20:59+0000

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Main news of February 12

20:59 GMT 12.02.2010

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Georgian Winter Olympic luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died on Friday in Vancouver after a crash during training on Friday, IOC officials said

* Ukraine has no intention of bidding to become a member of NATO, Viktor Yanukovych said on Friday as Western leaders congratulated him on winning the former Soviet republic's presidential polls

* Even before official presidential vote results have been announced in Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych has received a flurry of congratulations from Western powers and organizations, as they continue to distance themselves from "orange" leaders

* Former U.S. president Bill Clinton has been taken to a New York hospital with a heart complaint

* Sergei Bagapsh was sworn in for his second term as president of Abkhazia, thanking Russia in his inaugural address for helping the republic achieve independence from Georgia

* China once again urged U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday to immediately cancel his meeting with Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama due next week

* NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen congratulated Viktor Yanukovych on his election as Ukrainian president and said the alliance wanted closer ties with Ukraine

* The government of Haiti could use circus tents as its temporary headquarters in Port-au-Prince after a powerful quake last month flattened the capital, CNN reported

* Bulgaria is holding informal talks with the United States on hosting elements of a U.S. missile shield on its soil, the U.S. ambassador to the East European country said

RUSSIA

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev took part in a ceremony to launch production of coalbed methane gas in southwest Siberia

* Pumping of Russian natural gas to Europe via the Baltic Nord Stream pipeline will start in September 2011, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev described the national oil sector as "a semi-sacred cow" and urged measures to combat criminal activity in it

* Church property confiscated by the Soviet authorities must be returned despite the complexity of the issue, the deputy head of the Kremlin administration said

* Russia has imposed temporary restrictions on meat and dairy imports from a number of U.S., Brazilian, Finnish and Czech companies

* Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov dismissed the existence of separatist moods in the North Caucasus, but said that small groups of militants are still active in the volatile region

* Passengers flying with Aeroflot may soon be able to use mobile phones on the airline's flights, a business daily said

* Russia's prototype fifth-generation fighter has made a second test flight in the Far East, a Defense Ministry official told RIA Novosti

* Russian Greenpeace activists protested in front of the Japanese Embassy in Moscow on Friday to support two Japanese colleagues arrested over a whale meat scandal

BUSINESS

* Russia's Finance Ministry has raised its forecast of federal budget deficit for 2010 to 7.2% of GDP from 6.8%, Deputy Finance Minister Tatyana Nesterenko said

SPORTS

* Hockey player Alexei Morozov will lead the Russian Olympic team into Vancouver's BC Place Stadium as the national flag bearer, the head of the Russian Olympic committee said

* Russia House in the Winter Olympics capital of Vancouver was opened by Russian deputy prime ministers Alexander Zhukov and Dmitry Kozak by simultaneously striking a puck across the ice

* Germany is the bookmakers' favorite to take most medals ahead of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Canada