Main News of February 15

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad trumpeted major advances in the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, in a move likely to further raise the stakes in its tense stand-off with the West

* Russia has ruled out backing Western sanctions against Iran, saying they are aimed at regime change in Tehran

* Iran has launched “a cascade of domestically-made uranium enrichment centrifuges” of the latest generation at a nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, Fars news agency reported, citing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

* The Iranian Petroleum Ministry rejected media reports that Iran had stopped oil supplies to six European countries in response to the latest sanctions imposed by the EU against its energy and banking sectors

* Iran has inserted its first homemade nuclear fuel rods into a research reactor in Tehran, Iranian state-run Press TV reported

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow may support a projected UN Security Council resolution stipulating that peacekeepers will be deployed to Syria, but only under certain conditions

* Syria will hold a referendum on a new constitution on February 26, according to a decree issued by President Bashar al-Assad, the official Sana news agency reported

RUSSIA

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled several crucial achievements of the country’s nuclear program amid increasing tensions from the West

* Russia would use nuclear weapons in response to any imminent threat to its national security, Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Nikolai Makarov said

* Russian consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor imposed a ban on cheese supplies from three Ukrainian producers over their failure to meet Russian food standards

BUSINESS

* Russia sold $13.2 billion worth of weaponry to foreign customers in 2011, head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Mikhail Dmitriyev said

* Russian energy giant Gazprom intends to invest 200-300 million euros to double its underground gas storage facilities in Europe to ensure uninterrupted gas supplies, Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said

* Russian energy giant Gazprom will make a final investment decision on the South Stream gas pipeline project intended to carry natural gas to Europe, bypassing transit countries, in November this year, Gazprom said

* Russian stocks surged in trading on news that China pledged to invest in Europe’s bailout funds and boost its euro asset holdings

 

SPORTS

* Roman Shirokov blasted home an 88th-minute winner to give Zenit St. Petersburg a 3-2 win over Benfica in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie

* The downhill course for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi is difficult but fun to race on, reigning Olympic downhill champion Lindsey Vonn said after training runs

Double Olympic champion pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva set the third-best jump of the season of 4.81 meters to clinch her third title of the year, in Lievin, France