* The United States and most European Union countries will do everything possible to push a new resolution on Kosovo through for a UN Security Council vote by late May, defying Russia's position, Vuk Draskovic, Serbia's foreign minister, said
* the Iranian president said:
- the withdrawal of occupation forces from Iraq would solve all problems with security in that country
- Iran intends to fully exercise its rights in the nuclear sphere and will not back down "a jot" under pressure from the international community
* Iranian authorities arrested a former senior official and nuclear negotiator, Hossein Moussavian, Iran's IRNA news agency reported
* U.S. President George Bush vetoed a congressional bill linking $124.2 billion in additional military funding to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by a deadline of April 1, 2008
* Mikhail Margelov, head of the Russian Federation Council's International Affairs Committee, said, that the debate surrounding a U.S. Congress decision to withdraw troops from Iraq was merely part of an election struggle between Democrats and Republicans
* A faction in Latvia's parliament formally requested the country's Constitutional Court to suspend consideration and ratification of a border treaty with Russia, the party chairman said
* Russian President Vladimir Putin nominated Moscow Region Governor Boris Gromov for another term, the Kremlin press service said
* The U.S. State Department said Wednesday Russia is among the seven worst offenders in terms of press freedom, along with Afghanistan, Venezuela, Pakistan, the Philippines, Egypt and Lebanon
* Russia's foreign intelligence operations against the United States are currently at the same level as during the Cold War, the U.S. national intelligence chief, Michael McConnell, said
* Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said his country was prepared to consider basing elements of a U.S. missile shield system on its soil
* Azerbaijan's president spoke in favor of proactive energy cooperation with Belarus on mutually beneficial terms
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said:
- Russia should develop transport in the Arctic to support future energy projects and Russia's strategic interests
- companies developing offshore oil deposits could enjoy tax breaks
* A Turkish party published the mobile phone numbers of all 550 Turkish lawmakers online to push for a lower voting age, the ANKA news agency reported
* The Amur Region governor was accused of negligence and abuse of office, and faces up to seven years in prison, Russian prosecutors said
* The creditors' committee of the now bankrupt oil firm Yukos will hold another auction to sell the company's transport and bank assets in summer, the press secretary of the Yukos bankruptcy manager said
* Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II denied Internet rumors that he had undergone bypass surgery abroad, including reports of his death
* At least 45 people were injured in the latest clash between police and groups of youths in central Madrid, emergency services said
* Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to set up a new airline, the Kremlin press service said
* Several young people charged into the press center of a popular Russian newspaper, Argymenty i Fakty, in downtown Moscow, which was to host a conference with the Estonian ambassador to Russia
* About 20 members of the Russian pro-Kremlin political youth movement Nashi (Ours) blocked a highway near the state border with Estonia in the Leningrad Region
* The Czech Republic will start talks on the deployment of a missile defense system with the United States on May 10, the Czech CTK news agency reported
