Main news of March 2

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the alliance does not plan any military actions against riots-hit Libya, Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said

* Moscow has imposed an entry ban on two Japanese companies' heads for anti-Russian rhetoric, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Lukashevich, said

* A Russian national pleaded guilty to illegally transferring over $172 million through the United States, the U.S. Department of Justice said

* Arab foreign ministers called on the Libyan leadership to stop the violent suppression of protesters in the country and respect the legitimate rights of the people

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi told supporters in Tripoli that he could not step down because he is a "symbol for the Libyan people"

* A formal agreement guaranteeing that NATO and Russian missile defense systems are not directed against each other is the key to cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi retook control of the eastern town of Brega and bombed the nearby town of Ajdabiyah

RUSSIA

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has decorated former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev with the country's top award, the order of St. Andrew

* Moscow city authorities said they had allocated 14 billion rubles ($486.6 million) to provide for a pay increase for officers of law enforcement agencies responsible for security in the capital

BUSINESS

* American retail giant Walmart finally closed its representative office in Moscow after failing to cash in on the booming Russian market