Main news of February 14

RUSSIA

* Russia's outgoing President Vladimir Putin gave his seventh and last annual news conference, which also was his longest lasting four hours and 40 minutes.  In his last annual meeting with over 1,300 journalists Putin answered 100 questions from 78 reporters. He said:

- Russia backs Washington's moves to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

- If he becomes prime minister he will not seek to control Dmitry Medvedev as president

- Russia will not allow anyone to dictate terms to it, but that it will honor its international commitments in full

- He rejects arguments by European powers that Kosovo is a "special case" in seeking independence, and accuses the countries of employing double standards on the issue

- Russia may have to retarget some of its rockets at the missile defenses that the U.S. is planning to deploy in Central Europe

- Domestic problems, not foreign expansion, are Russia's main focus

- Tensions in economic relations with Poland were linked to U.S. plans to deploy missile defense elements in the Central European country

- He has never been tempted to stay on as Russia's president for a third consecutive term

- Russia has no plans to monopolize Ukraine's natural gas transportation system

- The Amur Region, in Russia's Far East, is the most favorable location for the construction of a new space center

- Recently-established government corporations will be gradually prepared for initial public offerings (IPOs)

- Russia's Arctic research is aiming to secure the country's right to a piece of the Arctic shelf

- He backs the idea of creating high-tech nuclear medical centers in the regions

* Russia's Supreme Court upheld a life sentence for serial killer Alexander Pichushkin, convicted of 48 murders and three attempted murders

* Yevgeny Grigoryev, the chief prosecutor of the Russian Volga region of Saratov, was gunned down in a contract-style killing, local police said

WORLD

* Hezbollah is ready for open war with Israel,  Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese radical group's leader, said, following the assassination of a top Hezbollah commander

* A visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Iraq next month will help advance bilateral relations, the Iraqi prime minister said

* The UN nuclear watchdog will inspect the facilities and conditions under which Russian nuclear fuel is being stored at Bushehr, southern Iran, on a permanent basis, a nuclear safety official said

* The government of Serbia passed a resolution calling 'illegal' any move by the breakaway province of Kosovo to declare unilateral independence.

* British police said a post mortem revealed that the Georgian opposition leader and businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili died of heart disease, although toxicological tests have not yet been conducted

* The Atlantis space shuttle will return to Earth on February 20 after its mission to the International Space Station (ISS) was extended, NASA said

* Four people were hospitalized after a passenger plane crashed on takeoff at an airport near the capital of Armenia, a spokesperson for the country's civilian aviation authority said

* A man has died in Vietnam of the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu, the local Thanh Nien daily said, citing the country's health ministry

BUSINESS

* Russia's leading producer of distilled spirits, Synergy, plans to export vodka under the Beluga brand in the U.S., EU and Ukraine, the company said

* Russia and Iran could set up a joint venture to operate the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran in three months, the chief executive of Atomstroyexport said

* Ukraine will pay for Russian natural gas on time, President Viktor Yushchenko told Ukrainian TV station Inter