Main news of February 11

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* An agreement on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's resignation was reached after a meeting with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Kuwaiti Al-Qabas daily reported

* Egypt's Higher Military Council said in a statement received by RIA Novosti that it has no plans of assuming long-term power over the country after Hosni Mubarak resigned from his presidential post earlier in the day

* Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned after 18 days of protests across the country, Vice President Omar Suleiman said on national TV

* Turkey sent a report to the United Nations condemning Israel for its deadly attack last May on a Gaza-bound aid convoy

* A British court will announce a decision on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition to Sweden, District Judge Howard Riddle said

* There is no sense in holding peace talks with Japan as long as Tokyo holds radical views over the issue of the disputed South Kuril Islands, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* Kazakhstan's long-serving President Nursultan Nazarbayev has announced his plans to seek reelection at early presidential polls due on April 3

RUSSIA

* Chechen militant leader Doku Umarov has been tied to the terrorist attack in late January at Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport, North Caucasus Federal District presidential envoy Alexander Khloponin said

* The controversial Russian guerilla art group Voina (War) has been shortlisted for a state prize, the organizers of the Innovations award said

* Russia's unresolved conflict with Japan over the Kuril Islands, which has been simmering since WWII, may reach a boiling point now that Russian authorities are set to go ahead with their plan to build up the disputed territory's defense potential

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the country's key ministers to launch anti-terrorism drills across Russia to ensure public security on transport, the Kremlin press service said

* The Russian Transport Ministry's final report has blamed the pre-New Year traffic chaos at Russian airports on the heads of Russia's largest airline Aeroflot, airports' management, Federal Air Transport Agency officials, and flawed laws, Russian daily Kommersant said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's Twitter and LiveJournal accounts have been named the best blogs of the Russian-language internet in 2011

BUSINESS

A joint venture of the Ukrainian aircraft building concern Antonov and the Russian United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) may begin operating already in March, UNIAN news agency quoted Antonov chairman Dmytro Kyva as saying

* Norilsk Nickel, Russia's largest nickel producer, has offered RusAl, the world's largest aluminum company and one of Norilsk core shareholders, $12.8 billion for its 20% stake in the company, Norilsk said

* The Russian authorities are ready to offer concessions to foreign investors who choose to do business on the Kuril Islands, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* Russia's second largest bank, VTB, will sell the 10% of shares offered by the government at the market price, a source familiar with the oversubscribed placement told RIA Novosti

* A Siberian arbitration court said it had dismissed a suit filed by the world's largest aluminum producer RusAl against Russia's top nickel producer Norilsk Nickel to declare invalid the election of Norilsk's board at its latest shareholders' meeting