Main news of April 26

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* The interim Kyrgyz government has started discussions on officially removing ex-President Kurmanbek Bakiyev from his presidential post as well as annulling his presidential immunity, an interim government official told RIA Novosti

* The Polish Central Election Committee has received applications from 23 candidates planning to participate in the country's presidential race, a committee spokesman told RIA Novosti

* The interim Kyrgyz government published a draft constitution on its site, which cuts the powers of the president and changes the Kyrgyz presidential regime into a parliamentary one

* The Ukrainian parliament committee for international affairs recommended against ratifying a new deal extending Russia's use of a naval base in Crimea

* The Chernobyl tragedy led Ukraine to abandon its nuclear arsenal, but the country needs nuclear power as its main energy source, Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych said

* A Bangkok court dismissed a claim by alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout against a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officer

* Ukraine, which is negotiating a free-trade agreement with the European Union, is unlikely to join a customs union with three ex-Soviet republics, the EU enlargement commissioner said

* Kyrgyzstan's former interior minister was flown to Manas airport near Bishkek after being detained in Moscow in a joint Kyrgyz-Russian operation, Kyrgyzstan's AKIpress agency reported

* A new international agreement to replace the Kyoto environmental protocol will not be signed in 2010

* The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will try to form a common view of the Russia-Georgian war in August 2008 during its spring session, which will open in Strasbourg

RUSSIA

* Russian air companies may receive compensation for terminated flights to Europe due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland

* Russia is ready to render various assistance in overcoming the current political turmoil in Kyrgyzstan, a Russian deputy foreign minister told the head of the Kyrgyz interim government

* A new bill submitted to the Russian parliament that allows "preventive measures" against individuals committing extremist actions has fuelled fears among opposition parties of a revival of Soviet-era practices, a Russian business daily said

BUSINESS

* Italian companies have received $2 billion contracts on Russia's Nord Stream gas pipeline

* The capacity of Nord Stream, a pipeline to carry 55 billion cu m of Russian natural gas annually to western Europe under the Baltic Sea, could be further increased

* The economy of Tajikistan grew 6.8% in the first three months of 2010 to over $890 million, with money transfers from abroad constituting one-third, Tajikistan's National Bank said

* Sberbank and General Motors agreed on compensation, which the U.S. auto giant will pay for its refusal to sell the ailing German automaker Opel, despite earlier accords, Russia's largest retail bank said

* The Russian hi-tech government corporation Rosnano may place bonds worth up to 50 billion rubles ($1.7 billion) by late 2010 or early 2011, Rosnano CEO Anatoly Chubais said

* The Taiwanese hi-tech company Foxconn has opened a Hewlett-Packard personal computers production center near St. Petersburg, the city's Committee for Economic Development, Industrial Policy and Trade news statement said

* Russia's branch of the Swiss food giant Nestle has not been officially notified by the Russian consumer rights watchdog of a ban on some its baby food imports, a company manager said

* Russia's consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor has banned the Gerber Products company, one of the largest U.S. producers of baby food, from importing four kinds of its poultry products to Russia over the country's new safety requirements

* Ukraine's gas transportation system will give the country some $6 billion in annual revenues if Kiev manages to persuade Russia and the European Union to invest in the modernization of Ukraine's pipelines