RUSSIA

* A Russian Soyuz-FG carrier rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan carrying South Korea's first astronaut, on the 17th expedition to the International Space Station

* Russia's main demand for the deployment of a U.S. missile shield in Central Europe is "the constant presence of our officers and reliable technical monitoring," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* Russia will do everything possible to prevent its neighbors, Ukraine and Georgia, being admitted to NATO, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said

* Russia's Foreign Ministry asked the Hague to provide details on crimes described in a book by former chief criminal prosecutor Carla del Ponte

* Kosovo's draft constitution is an attempt to draw a pseudo-legal basis for the declaration of independence by the Serb province, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement

* International terrorists carry out recruiting activities in Russia's regions with the support of some foreign non-governmental organizations, Russian Federal Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev said

* A Moscow court extended by three months custody for Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak, accused of attempting to embezzle $43 million in state funds

* The number of spacecraft to be launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan will increase 33%, year-on-year, in 2008 to a total of 28, the local mayor said

WORLD

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Islamic Republic had started to install another 6,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges at its underground facility in Natanz

* Iran is carrying out tests of advanced nuclear equipment, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said

* UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a RIA Novosti interview:

- Serbia and Kosovo should refrain from unilateral steps that could spark violence in the region

- The Russian-led peacekeeping contingent in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia should secure the support of all parties involved in the "frozen" conflict

* North Korea's top envoy at the six-party nuclear talks, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, said Pyongyang and Washington had moved closer to resolving a deadlock that has stalled the talks

* The Council of the European Union has prolonged sanctions against Belarusian officials by another year, until April 10, 2009, an EU spokesman said

* Georgian Foreign Minister David Bakradze handed a note of protest to Russia's ambassador, Vyacheslav Kovalenko, over a letter sent by the Russian Justice Ministry to authorities in breakaway Abkhazia

* U.S. authorities have removed 401 children and 133 women from a ranch owned by a polygamist sect in Texas, national media reported

* All 32 crew members on board a luxury French yacht captured by Somali pirates at the weekend are alive and being well treated, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said citing the country's embassy in France

* Israeli troops have killed at least one Palestinian militant in a military operation in northern Gaza, local medical officials said

* A third IL-76 cargo plane of the Russian Emergencies Ministry carrying 40 tons of humanitarian aid, mostly rice, to ethnic Serbs in Kosovo landed at a Belgrade airport

BUSINESS

* Russia's Central Bank downgraded its forecast for this year's net capital inflow by $5 billion to $35 billion, the first deputy chairman said

* Russian state-controlled crude producer Rosneft [RTS: ROSN] said its US GAAP net income grew 260%, year-on-year, in 2007 to $12.86 billion

* Russian financial holding Interros said it was prepared to consider buying the shares of metals giant Norilsk Nickel from billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, if his deal with RusAl is cancelled

* Mechel, a leading Russian metals and mining company, said on Tuesday it had closed a deal to buy a 100% stake in Romania's Ductil Steel for $221 million

* An affiliate of a Russian hotel chain has bought 20 three-star hotels in Europe with 1,875 rooms from the Austrian Hotel Company (AHC), the company director general said