Main news of March 25

RUSSIA

* A Kremlin source rejected on Wednesday a report from the Chechen leadership that the counter-terrorism campaign in the republic would finish at the end of this month

* Russia's Gazprom warned that any changes made to Ukraine's natural gas transport network without Russia's approval will affect European supply contracts

* Russia will contribute $7.5 billion to the anti-crisis fund of the Eurasian Economic Community (Eurasec), a senior diplomat said

* Two men including the mayor of the town of Kirovsk in north Russia's Murmansk Region were shot dead on Wednesday morning by a local store manager who then committed suicide, investigators said

* Police in Moscow have arrested a teenager and a homeless man on suspicion of killing a 27-year-old Muscovite for his SUV, Russian media said

* Norway's Coast Guard have detained three Russian trawlers on suspicion of illegal poaching in a prohibited area, a Norwegian newspaper said

* Russia's Supreme Court has moved to reverse the widespread practice of remanding suspects in custody prior to trial even if the crimes are minor, a government daily said

* Russia's Oxana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin won a compulsory dance at the 2009 World Figure Skating Championship in Los Angeles to take the lead in the event

WORLD

* Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Wednesday to renew peace talks with the Palestinians once his government is formed

* Russia cannot consider Iran's nuclear program "transparent" while the UN nuclear watchdog still has concerns on this account, a senior Russian member of parliament said

* About 500 demonstrators gathered on Wednesday in Sevastopol in Ukraine's Crimea to protest the visit of a U.S. frigate to the port, which hosts a key Russian naval base

* Three police officers and two protestors have been injured during rallies in the Serbian capital of Belgrade to mark the 10th anniversary of NATO air raids on the former Yugoslavia, police said

* U.S. President Barack Obama expects steady progress in relations with Iran as he pursues a policy of greater engagement than his predecessor George Bush

* Two Cuban leaders who took part in the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power were dismissed earlier this month in a government reshuffle, an official publication said

* Seven civilians were killed and about 10 injured when a bus hit a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan early on Wednesday, the country's Interior Ministry said

* Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has pulled out of a meeting scheduled for Wednesday with the leader of the breakaway republic of Transdnestr, Igor Smirnov, Moldova's Reintegration Ministry said

* U.S. President Barrack Obama sees no need for a new global reserve currency as proposed by Russia and China, declaring the dollar "extraordinarily strong"

BUSINESS

* Russia will spend 3.7 trillion rubles ($110 billion), or 9.1% of its GDP, in 2009 on measures aimed at tackling the ongoing economic crisis, the Finance Ministry said

* Gazprom has bought a 50% stake in A2A Beta S.p.A. from Italy's A2A Alfa S.r.l. to create a joint venture to sell gas on the Italian market, a Gazprom spokesman said

* Development costs for the Shtokman gas condensate field in the Barents Sea will not be reevaluated for the time being, the company's chief executive said