Main news of February 12

RUSSIA

* Government measures have eased the tax burden on the Russian oil sector by 500 billion rubles ($14 billion) since the start of this year, the prime minister said

* Law enforcement officials discovered 800 kilograms of explosives in a building in Nazran that was blown up by militants who were using it as a hideout, an FSB spokesman said

* A current and a former Russian deputy finance minister are suspected of masterminding the embezzlement of state funds on a large scale, a special investigations committee said

* Russia's parliament is considering a proposal to cancel VAT charges for the press in a bid to ensure its independence amid the ongoing financial crisis, a business daily said

* Border guards in the southern Russian republic of Daghestan have detained two people on charges of attempting to sell two girls into sex slavery in Bahrain, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said

* Four police officers are now known to have died in a clash on Thursday with militants in Nazran, the largest city in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, a police spokesman said

* Two Russian Tu-95MS Bear-H strategic bombers have carried out a routine patrol flight over the Arctic Ocean, an Air Force spokesman said

WORLD

* Russia wants its relations with NATO to be effective and mutually beneficial, rather than merely existing on paper, the Russian president said

* The foreign minister of Abkhazia officially notified the United Nations on Thursday that the separatist Georgian republic approves the extension of the UN mission in the region until June 15

* The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on Thursday ordered Russia to pay 247,000 euros ($320,000) in connection with three cases of abduction in Chechnya

* Russia has delivered the first four MiG-29 Fulcrum-D naval fighters to India and will supply the remaining 12 aircraft by the end of 2009, the head of Russia's MiG aircraft maker said

* Pope Benedict XVI confirmed on Thursday that he plans to visit Israel in May

* A Russian lawmaker and presidential envoy on Arctic and Antarctic international cooperation said on Thursday that NATO lacked the technical capability to enhance its military presence in the Arctic

* The Faina, a Ukrainian cargo ship released by Somali pirates last week, has arrived in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office said

* The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe extended on Thursday a mandate for its unarmed military observers in Georgia, the OSCE press service said

BUSINESS

* MiG's portfolio of orders is worth over 100 billion rubles ($2.8 billion) and will grow by another 50 billion rubles ($1.5 billion) in the near future, the Russian aircraft maker's head said

* A Russian court rejected on Thursday a compensation claim by Ford management against workers at a car factory near St. Petersburg who went on strike in late 2007, a trade union head said