Main news of April 22

RUSSIA

* Russian Communists mark the 139th anniversary of Vladimir Lenin's birth with low-key events on Moscow's Red Square and across Russia

* Russia views NATO as a key factor in Euro-Atlantic security, and not as a threat, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev posted his first live blog on the LiveJournal.com website on the theme of the Internet

* The Russian crew of a tanker in the Gulf of Aden prevented Somali pirates from boarding their vessel by using onboard fire hoses, a sailors' union spokesman in Russia's Far East said

* Svetlana Bakhmina, a former Yukos legal executive and mother of three, could be released on May 1, 10 days after a court upheld her parole request, a defense lawyer said

* Two Russian nationalist groups have received permission from Moscow authorities to hold on May 1 a rally to call for preserving jobs for Russians, one of the organizers said

* Popular Russian singer Diana Gurtskaya, who is blind, has demanded an apology from the British embassy after she was asked to remove her dark glasses while having her photograph taken for a U.K. visa

* A southwest Siberian court released on a 1 million-ruble ($30,000) bail the U.S. owner of the New York Pizza restaurant chain in Novosibirsk, who has been accused of tax evasion

WORLD

* U.S. President Barack Obama misconstrued Cuban leader Raul Castro's recent comments on Havana's willingness for dialogue with Washington, Fidel Castro has said

* Washington is ready to adopt "very tough sanctions" against Iran if Tehran refuses to abandon its controversial nuclear program, the U.S. secretary of state, Hillary Clinton said

* U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Washington was ready to resume nuclear talks with North Korea but urged countries "not to give in" to Pyongyang's "unpredictable behavior"

* G8 environment ministers began a three-day meeting in the Sicilian city of Syracuse

* Talks between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders on the island's reunification made no progress, Cyprus President Demetris Christofias said

* Moldova's Constitutional Court approved at a meeting the results of the parliamentary election recount, confirming victory for the Communist Party

* The Georgian opposition is beefing up its protests in the country's capital as supporters began arriving in Tbilisi from other Georgian regions

* The Russian-backed former Georgian republic of South Ossetia accused the OSCE of trying to provoke tensions, following an alleged border violation by observers from the Vienna-based group

* A painting by Russian seascape master Ivan Aivazovsky sold for $1.35 million at Sotheby's spring sale of Russian Art in New York, the auction house said

BUSINESS

* Mechel has signed a final agreement to buy U.S. Bluestone Coal for $436 million plus 83.3 million preferred shares in Mechel, the Russian steel giant said

* MegaFon, Russia's third largest mobile operator, said its U.S. GAAP net profit grew 30.5% year-on-year in 2008 to 44.32 billion rubles ($1.3 billion)

SPORTS

* Russian international Andrei Arshavin dominated world football headlines after scoring all four of Arsenal's goals in a 4-4 draw away to Liverpool

* The Russian Football Union has fined Spartak Moscow $14,700 over an obscene banner used by fans in a match against a Caucasus side, which insinuated the opposition enjoyed intimate relations with sheep