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Main news of April 20

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A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours 20.04.2011, Sputnik International

2011-04-20T19:59+0000

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Main news of April 20

19:59 GMT 20.04.2011

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* A human rights activist held in Belarus in connection with the April 11 deadly blast at a metro station in the capital, Minsk, is no longer a suspect, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee said

* The Indian space agency ISRO successfully launched three satellites, including Resourcesat-2, an advanced remote sensing satellite to study natural resources

RUSSIA

* Russian Federal Migration Service spokesman Konstantin Poltoranin has been fired after giving a controversial BBC interview, a source in the service reported

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has played down the prospect of China-style Internet censorship in Russia, just two weeks after the FSB, the country's domestic security service demanded access to net communication services like Gmail and Skype

* Russia needs to be strong and avoid experiments with "unjustified liberalism" in order to safeguard its sovereignty and prevent outsiders from dictating the country's development, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

* Russia will double its Reserve Fund to 1.43 trillion rubles ($50 billion) by the end of this year, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to parliament

* Russia needs a decade of sustainable development, without experiments based on often unjustified liberalism, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to parliament

* Russia's inflation level this year will be under 7.5 percent, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said during his annual address to parliament

BUSINESS

* The Russian government intends to stay out of the shareholder conflict between BP and its partners in TNK-BP local venture, the AlfaAccessRenova consortium, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

* The laying of the undersea section of the Nord Stream pipeline will finish in July, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to parliament

* Russia will create “at least 200,000 jobs” in one-industry cities by 2015, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged a new wave of industrial development in his annual address to parliament

* The capitalization of Russia's stock market has exceeded $1.1 trillion, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to parliament

*The recent U.S. debt downgrade by a leading debt ratings agency is harmful for the global economy, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said during his annual address to parliament

DEFENSE

* Upgrading the Air Force and air defense systems will be a priority in the development of the Russian armed forces in the near future, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to parliament

* Russia will double the production of ballistic missile systems from 2013, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to parliament