Main news of March 10

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* The European Union condemns Israel's plans to build 1,600 housing units in East Jerusalem and calls on the Jewish state to reverse the decision, the EU foreign affairs chief said

* Moldovan communists plan to hold a referendum on a vote of no confidence against acting President Mihai Ghimpu and the acting government, communist deputy Vadim Mishin said

* London's High Court supported fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky's libel action against a Russian TV broadcaster and an individual and awarded him a compensation of some $224,000

* The new U.S. adoptive approach for European missile defense includes the possibility of using a Russian radar system as part of an integrated system, NATO's top military officer has said

* Sergei Tigipko, a major player in Ukrainian politics after finishing third in the presidential elections, agreed on Wednesday to become a deputy prime minister, President Viktor Yanukovych said

* India wants to expand civilian nuclear power cooperation with Russia and is planning to sign a document on joint nuclear research soon, a high-ranking Indian nuclear official said

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Kabul for talks with his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, Iranian media reported

* The parliament of Venezuela approved a project on country's joint development of a major oilfield in Venezuela's Orinoco oil belt Junin 6 with Russia, local Globovision television channel reported

RUSSIA

* Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said it was unacceptable for traffic police to force owners of private cars to use their vehicles to form roadblocks

* Around 15 documents worth over $10 billion are expected to be signed during the Russian prime minister's visit to India, a government spokesman said

* Russia cannot allow U.S. plans to deploy elements of its missile shield in Europe to threaten the effectiveness of its nuclear deterrent, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* Plans to buy an expensive helicopter carrier from France could hinder the development of Russia's defense industry, a Russian lawmaker said

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has taken charge of a government technology and innovation commission designed to boost the country's modernization, according to a resolution posted on the government's web site

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the interior minister to probe last week's car crash in Moscow involving a LUKoil vice-president that killed two doctors, his spokeswoman said

* Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, passed in the third and final reading a government bill extending a ban on human cloning

* Ten militants captured in Russia's North Caucasus last week have been formally arrested in connection with the derailment of a Moscow-St. Petersburg train in November, a respected daily said

* More than 2,000 servicemen from Russia's Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) are taking part in large-scale command-and-staff exercises, a military spokesman said

* King Abdullah II of Jordan will pay an official two-day visit to Russia to talk bilateral trade and economic relations with the Russian president