Main news of March 12

RUSSIA

* The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that a meeting of the Russian and U.S. foreign and defense ministers would be held in Moscow later this month

* Russia and Ukraine launched on Wednesday a new round of natural gas talks which will be continued on Thursday, a source close to the negotiations on the long-running dispute said

* Russia's Foreign Ministry said it is concerned over claims made by authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina that Russia has launched a diplomatic and media campaign against the country

* The Moscow City Court has upheld a decision by the Russian Prosecutor's Office to extradite an Israeli army officer to Colombia, a court spokesperson said

* Russia's 'chessboard killer,' currently awaiting transfer to prison for life, has said in an interview that he is unrepentant and nostalgic for the 15 years he was engaged in his gruesome business

* Russia is to introduce a 'color-coded' system of terrorist threat levels, the Federal Security Service director told a National Counter-Terrorism Committee (NCC) session

* Officials from South Ossetia will address Russia's parliament on the issue of the breakaway republic's independence on Thursday, the region's envoy to Russia said

* Russia will build four nuclear power stations in the central part of the country and in the Urals by 2020, an official document said

* A Uzbek national was stabbed to death in St. Petersburg and another was found dead in the Leningrad Region, a spokesman for Russia's law enforcement agencies said

WORLD

* NATO's spokesman gave assurances that the alliance is listening to Russia's views on the Untied States' controversial plans to deploy a missile shield in Central Europe

* A draft statement on Kosovo proposed by Russia to the UN Security Council was met with skepticism by Western nations

* Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, set out its conditions for a ceasefire with Israel, and said talks were underway with Egypt

* The United Nations should more actively use the potential of the CSTO and SCO regional security groups to fight the drug threat in Afghanistan, the Russian envoy to the UN said

* Outgoing Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said he was prepared to ease the state of emergency regime imposed on March 1 in Yerevan after protests over recent presidential election results

* China rejected claims that the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing will fail to meet international environment and personal safety standards, the Chinese foreign minister said

* Over 8,000 people, including at least 1,500 civilians, were killed in violence in Afghanistan in 2007, a new UN report said

* Vietnam's first communications satellite, the Vinasat-1, is to be launched on April 12, a Vietnamese government official said

*  Israeli forces killed an Islamic Jihad militant in the West Bank, local radio station Al Quds

* The U.S. Ambassador to Belarus left Minsk for Washington, the U.S. embassy said on its website

BUSINESS

* An account held by the Russian Central Bank (CBR) at France's Natixis bank, which was frozen in January following a suit by Swiss firm Noga, was unfrozen, a lawyer for the CBR said

* Airbus, Europe's leading aircraft manufacturer, says Russia will require 921 airliners worth $79 billion by 2026, the head of the company's Russian division said

* Russia's second-largest mobile phone operator VimpelCom [RTS: VIMP] said that its US GAAP net profit had increased 80.2%, year-on-year, in 2007, to $1.463 billion

* Russia's broad monetary base stood at 4,955 billion rubles (about $206.5 billion) in February 2008, up 0.5% from January, the Central Bank of Russia said