Main news of February 7

WORLD

* The United States will continue to work on a planned missile defense system in Central Europe, but it will consult Russia, Vice President Joe Biden said

* Russia is not the main military threat for NATO and the EU, French President Nicholas Sarkozy said at the 45th Munich Security Conference

* Poland will follow through with the deployment of U.S. missile shield elements on its territory, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said

* Russia must be included in European security structures, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said

* Strengthening Russia’s ties with the West is vital and the NATO-Russia Council can play an important role, the military alliance’s secretary general said

* Armenia’s foreign minister met with his Turkish counterpart on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said

* Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg will arrive in the United States on Sunday and visit Russia next week, the country’s CTK news agency reported

* A Hamas delegation arrived in Egypt for the final round of talks on a possible ceasefire with Israel, the Palestinian Islamist group said

RUSSIA

* Russia cruises to 2-0 lead against China in Fed Cup quarterfinal

* The Russian government should adjust pensions and welfare payments if inflation is greater than budgeted, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

* Plea hearings for three defendants charged in relation to the murder of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya will take place on February 16

* Russian nuclear fuel producer TVEL expects to sign a $780 million contract on fuel supplies to Indian nuclear power plants, a spokesman for Russia’s state nuclear power corporation Rosatom said

* Russia released a Japanese fishing vessel, detained in Russian waters in late January for alleged crab poaching, a border guard spokeswoman said