Main news of March 2

A round up of what happened in the past 24 hours

 WORLD

* The Nigerien military junta leadership has formed a new transitional government following the February 18 military coup that overthrew President Mamadou Tandja, BBC said

* Israel has received no guarantees from Russia or China that they will support sanctions against Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, as quoted by national media

* Beijing places the responsibility for worsening of relations between China and the United States on Washington and hopes that the U.S. administration will respect China's interests, a Chinese diplomat said

* Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych gave a strong hint that he may not recognize the independence of the former Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia

* Ukrainian parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said that the country's parliament majority coalition has been disbanded

 

RUSSIA

 

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev invited French businessmen to attend an economic forum in St. Petersburg in June

* President Dmitry Medvedev has proposed a package of amendments to Russia's criminal and criminal procedure codes with the aim of making punishment for economic crimes more humane, a business paper reported

* The Russian government will continue helping the jobless create their own businesses in 2010 and intends on maintaining the practice even after the economic crisis is over, a senior government official said

* Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov presented his diplomatic credentials to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, the UNIAN news agency reported

 

BUSINESS

 

* RIA Novosti has joined the world's largest financial information network, BT Radianz Shared Market Infrastructure, the news agency's director general said

* Russia and Croatia signed an intergovernmental agreement on building and operating the Croatian segment of the South Stream gas pipeline intended to supply natural gas to Europe

* Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is to double production by 2012 from 2009 to 200 planes, the company said

* The Russian government will consider a new plan to attract more foreign investment to the country's ailing auto industry on March 4, a respected business daily said

* Russian businesses are barred from forming their own security departments under a law that came into force, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta government daily said