Main News of February 18

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Anti-government protesters and police engaged in violent street battles that left hundreds injured and at least ten dead, including three police officers, in Ukraine’s capital

* Kazakhstan’s central bank sought to temper concerns among savers by dismissing rumors of looming bankruptcy at several lenders in the oil-rich Central Asian nation

RUSSIA

* The head of Russia’s Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan has quit, a spokesperson for the country's Federal Space Agency said

* Police in the Russian Olympic host city of Sochi detained three members of the anti-Kremlin feminist punk group Pussy Riot and several journalists for questioning about a theft in a local hotel

* A full-scale mock-up of Russia’s first large post-Soviet rocket has been rolled out to a launch pad at the Plesetsk space center

SPORTS

* Alexander Radulov scored two goals and an assist to help Russia to a 4-0 win over outsider Norway in the first round of the Olympic men’s hockey playoffs