Main news of March 26

RUSSIA

* The board of directors of Russia's flagship air carrier Aeroflot on Thursday accepted the resignation of CEO Valery Okulov and appointed Vitaly Savelyev as the company's new head, a source said

* Two Russian nationals are on board the Greek and Norwegian vessels seized by pirates off Somalia, the Greek Mercantile Marine Ministry and Norwegian Shipowners' Association said

* The French father of a 3-year-old girl kidnapped in France last Friday has received emails from his former wife saying that the woman is in Russia, a French newspaper said

* Russia is not aware of any plans for U.S. and Iranian diplomats to meet in Moscow on the sidelines of a conference on Afghanistan on Friday, but it is ready to help arrange such a meeting, the Foreign Ministry said

* A Soyuz-FG carrier rocket carrying the 19th Expedition crew to the International Space Station (ISS) blasted off on Thursday from the Baikonur space center, a Russian Mission Control spokesman said

* Russia is preparing a request for Georgia to extradite a Russian soldier who fled his military unit in South Ossetia in January, but has not yet filed the order, a military investigator said

* Russia's Alexander Smirnov and Yuko Kawaguchi have clinched the bronze medal in the pairs event at the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships in Los Angeles

* Four Russian players have won their first round matches to progress to the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open tournament in Miami

* Vets in south Russia's Stavropol Territory have quarantined a district that has seen two outbreaks of swine fever in the past two weeks, the region's chief vet said

* Fourteen people were killed and four injured in a head-on collision between a bus and a truck in central Russia's Vladimir Region early on Thursday, a spokesman for the regional emergencies center said

WORLD

* The recent Ukraine-EU natural gas pipeline declaration does not make any sense and looks like a deal signed by "a deaf man and a blind man," the Russian ambassador in Ukraine said

* Russia's Foreign Ministry reacted on Thursday to a brewing dispute with the EU over a new natural gas agreement with Ukraine, saying the decision to exclude Russia from the talks was an "unfriendly act"

* Moscow hopes that the current political situation in the Czech Republic will not affect the planned Russia-EU summit in May, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said

* The European Court of Human Rights said on Thursday it had ordered Russia to pay 3,000 euros ($4,000) in compensation to a member of the National Bolshevik Party for his illegal detention

* Russia hopes to increase international effectiveness in assisting the Afghan government in the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* The mayor of Kiev, whose mental competency has been questioned over recent policies and extravagant remarks, said on Thursday he would run for president of Ukraine

* A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman told state media that if rocket launches in the country "are criticized" either by the UN Security Council or collectively, then this would be viewed as a "hostile act"

* U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned North Korea that the firing of a missile of any kind would be a "provocative act" that could harm the six-party negotiations on the country's denuclearization

* Kyrgyzstan is not considering the possibility of U.S. troops returning to the Manas airbase in the north of the country, the Kyrgyz foreign minister said

* Taiwan is looking to buy U.S. "fifth-generation'' fighter jets featuring stealth and vertical takeoff capabilities, a Chinese daily reported

* Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ordered government employees to curb "excessive" spending during the global financial crisis, regional media reported

BUSINESS

* Metalloinvest, one of Russia's largest mining and metals companies, may get a new shareholder, with fugitive Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky claiming 5% of its stock, a business paper said