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A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours. 20.03.2012, Sputnik International

2012-03-20T19:59+0000

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Main News of March 20

19:59 GMT 20.03.2012

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours.

WORLD

* French authorities have launched a large-scale manhunt for a gunman who shot dead three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school in Toulouse on Monday.

* Russia imposed on Tuesday a temporary ban on imports of live swine and livestock from all EU countries due to the spread of two deadly animal viruses in Europe.

* The United States has welcomed North Korea’s move to invite UN nuclear experts to resume monitoring its nuclear program, but cautioned Pyongyang against a planned satellite launch.

* A U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 civilians in house-to-house shooting spree in southern Afghanistan a week ago told his lawyers that he had no recollection of the incident, CBS reported.

* Japan will deploy missile interceptors on a southern island chain ahead of a planned North Korean satellite launch in April, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported on Tuesday.

* The remains of two Belarusians executed last Friday should be returned to their families for proper burial, Amnesty International said in a statement on its web site.

* Russia’s outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev said the country must be prepared to respond by 2017-2018 to deployment of a missile shield in Europe.

* Russia is ready to support a UN Security Council resolution on Syria based on UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s proposals on how to resolve the crisis in the Arab country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

* The violation of Lebanese airspace by the Israeli Air Force is unacceptable, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday after a meeting with his Lebanese counterpart.

* The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, on Tuesday decided that jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko’s signing of gas contracts with Russia more than two years ago was an act of "high treason."

* Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama have agreed to meet soon after Putin is sworn in on May 7, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Kommersant FM radio on Tuesday.

* Moscow has not told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to leave Syria and take refuge in Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Kommersant FM radio station on Tuesday.

* An aggressive stance against Iran only threatens nuclear non-proliferation instead of supporting it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

RUSSIA

* Russia wants all European countries including Belarus to join the moratorium on the death penalty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in his interview with radio station Kommersant FM.

* Moscow-based missile manufacturer Avangard has signed a contract to supply Russia's defense ministry with missiles for its new S-400 air defense systems, the mininstry said on Tuesday.

* Vladimir Gruzdev, governor of the central Russian Tula region, is likely to be the richest governor in the country with a combined family income of over 3.8 billion rubles ($130.1 million) in 2011, Vedomosti business daily reported on Tuesday.

* A European parliament member said on Tuesday the Sochi Olympics in 2014 could be a good time to cancel the visa regime between Russia and the EU completely or at least for the duration of the games.

* A recent documentary aired by the NTV television channel alleging protesters were paid to attend this winter’s anti-government protests has been defended by the head of the state-controlled media holding that runs the station.

* Russia has offered to pay $2 million a year for the use of a training airbase in Ukraine’s Crimea, up from $700,000, the Kommersant-Ukraina newspaper reported on Tuesday.

* The 2018 Russia World Cup organizing committee on Tuesday unveiled five criteria by which 13 cities bidding to host matches will be cut down to 11 by September.

* God expects the all-female group Pussy Riot to repent for their anti-Putin “punk prayer” in Moscow’s largest cathedral, a leading Russian Orthodox official has said.

* The U.S. embassy in Russia on Tuesday denied that the U.S. government provides any financing for Russian opposition political parties.

* Russia’s unregistered opposition party Parnas will decide in mid-April whether it should re-apply for registration, a senior party member told the RAPSI news agency on Tuesday.

* Support for Vladimir Putin at this month’s presidential polls was significantly higher in rural areas and small towns, an opinion poll released on Tuesday indicated.

* The lower chamber of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, on Tuesday approved a law easing registration procedure for political parties in its second reading.

BUSINESS

* Russian gold miner Polyus Gold has suspended plans to list on the London Stock Exchange after the government's commission on foreign investment headed by president-elect Vladimir Putin failed to approve in November the company's relocation to the UK.

* The European Commission (EC) has approved French energy giant Total's acquisition of a 20.5 percent stake in the Yamal liquefied natural gas project in the Russian Arctic, the Commission said on Tuesday.

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