Main news of March 18

RUSSIA

* Top officials from Russia and the United States failed to reach an agreement on Washington's controversial missile defense plans for Central Europe, but agreed to continue talks

* The United States and Russia believe all sides in Kosovo must refrain from violence and avoid any provocation, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Moscow

* Russia's top prosecutors said no request has been received from Serbia for the extradition of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic's family

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the recent violence in Tibet is inextricably linked to the recognition of Kosovo's independence

* Britain should rethink its 'Cold War' stereotype of Russia if it wants to normalize bilateral relations with Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement

* Russia is ready to resume flights to Georgia on March 25, the Transportation Ministry said

* An Armenian national wanted in Russia on murder charges will be extradited from Iraq, the Interpol National Central Bureau in Russia said

* Russian senator Viktor Ozerov said Russia should take a more active part in peacekeeping operations worldwide to raise its international reputation

WORLD

* Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao lashed out at the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, accusing him of being behind the recent violent demonstrations in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet

* The company that owns the Svitzer Korsakov ice-class tug vessel seized by Somali pirates on February 1 confirmed that the vessel was released

* A Ukrainian police officer died of injuries sustained during clashes between the UN police force and ethnic Serbs on Monday in the north of Kosovo, a UN mission spokesman said

* UN officials in Kosovo said the clashes in the self-proclaimed state on Monday, when a Ukrainian peacekeeper was killed and dozens injured, were orchestrated

* Cuba has lifted a ban on private farmers buying agricultural equipment in a sign that new Cuban President Raul Castro is seeking to stimulate food production, Mexican mass media reported

* Parliamentary elections in Georgia could be held May 21, President Mikheil Saakashvili said after a meeting with the UN secretary general in New York

* Georgia's opposition issued a statement calling on the international community to mediate in the ongoing standoff with the president, as a hunger strike in Tbilisi entered its tenth day

* U.S. space shuttle Endeavour astronauts have completed their third spacewalk, preparing a new robot designed for the maintenance of the International Space Station for activation, NASA said

* A military helicopter crashed in northern Greece, killing all three people onboard, the Hellenic National Defense General Staff said

*  The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the bird flu virus, common in Indonesia, could mutate into a form that could easily be transmitted from person to person causing a global pandemic

* Heinz Felfe, former Nazi officer and one of the most successful undercover Soviet agents in West Germany during the Cold War, turned 90

BUSINESS

* Bolivia hopes to meet its supply commitments to neighboring countries now that a natural gas prospecting deal has been signed with Russia's Gazprom, Argentina's Telam news agency said

* LUKoil is planning to increase its natural gas production in Russia by 30% year-on-year to 15 billion cubic meters in 2008, the Russian company's gas production chief said

* Russia's state anti-monopoly service has approved the acquisition of Russia's Baltika brewery by Carlsberg, which increases its current 50% stake to 100%, the service said