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Main News of February 24

Sputnik International

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours 24.02.2014, Sputnik International

2014-02-24T19:59+0000

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Main News of February 24

19:59 GMT 24.02.2014

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Ukraine’s Interior Ministry issued an arrest warrant for the deposed president, Viktor Yanukovych, on charges of mass murder

* Ukraine said that it has asked Western powers to provide at least $35 billion in urgent financial aid as it struggles to cope with a severe political and economic crisis

* Ukraine’s former ruling Party of Regions, which had until recently held an overwhelming majority of seats in parliament, announced that it will take up the role of the opposition

RUSSIA

* A court in Moscow jailed seven opposition activists for up to four years for their involvement in an anti-Kremlin protest that ended in violent clashes with police

* Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed off on a law drastically overhauling the country’s election law in a reform that will create a mixed system by reintroducing single-mandate elections in the next parliamentary vote

* Vladimir Putin has signed a law to enhance powers to conduct snap inspections of non-governmental organizations

* Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that “substantial doubts” existed over the legitimacy of the new acting government in Ukraine

* Police said that about 500 people were detained in Moscow and St Petersburg at unauthorized rallies reportedly in protest at the imprisonment of seven opposition activists

* Russian scientists have developed a special filter that protects sensitive elements of optical devices used in military equipment from destruction by laser beams

BUSINESS

* The Bitcoin cryptocurrency is not on par with other financial securities as it is not backed by real assets, an official at Russia’s central bank said

* Russia’s biggest phosphate-based fertilizer manufacturer PhosAgro has announced a deal to buy potash from Belarus's state potash producer Belaruskali