Earthquake hits western Kosovo, no casualties or destruction.

BELGRADE, March 11 (Itar-Tass) - An earthquake measuring 5.0 points on
the Richter scale was registered near the town of Pec in western Kosovo at
14:40 GMT on Wednesday. Powerful underground tremors were felt in the
entire territory of the self-proclaimed republic.

The Committee for Seismology under Kosovo's Energy Ministry said that
it had no information about casualties or any serious devastation.
In the meantime, the local media reports that the local population
went panicky. People in Pristina, Pec, Prizren and Kosovska Mitrovica were
leaving buildings and were gathering on squares and parks.
Telecommunication lines were damaged and mobile telephone communication
was cut off.
According to Serbian and Montenegrin experts, Kosovo remains a
seismically active area where more powerful earthquakes are possible. So
far it's difficult to say whether new tremors are going to occur, said
Slavica Radovanovic, the director of the Serbian Republican Institute of
Seismology. She didn't rule out "a series of new but weaker shifts of the
earth's crust in the next few days.

. Putin is leaving for India on a visit to meet Indian leadership.

MOSCOW, March 11 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
will leave for India on Thursday evening. On Friday, he will meet his
Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh for talks. Putin will also participate
in an Internet conference with representatives of the Indian business
circles, cultural workers and members of the club of listeners of the
Voice of Russia radio from Mumbai, Calcutta and Bangalore.
"The Russian prime minister will start his working visit to India with
a conversation with the Indian President Pratibha Patil," Yuri Ushakov,
the deputy chief of staff of the Russian government, told journalists.
"After that Putin will hold an Internet conference with
representatives of Indian business circles, cultural workers and members
of the club of listeners of the Voice of Russia radio station from Mumbai,
Calcutta and Bangalore," Ushakov went on to say.
"During this Internet session the Russian prime minister will answer
various questions that are expected to cover a wide range of issues such
as economy, atomic energy, investment cooperation, humanitarian ties,
scientific and student exchanges," Ushakov added.
"The Internet conference will be held on the basis of infrastructure
created by the 'Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd' (the major shareholder is
AFK Sistema that has been operating in the Indian telecommunications
market since September 2008)," Ushakov explained.
"This is the first large-scale cooperation project between Russian and
Indian companies in the Indian telecommunications market with overall
investments exceeding four billion dollars," the deputy chief of the
Russian government staff said.
After the Internet conference Prime Minister Putin will have a meeting
with Sonya Gandhi, the president of the Indian National Congress party and
the leader of the ruling United Progressive Alliance.
On Friday evening, Putin will hold negotiations with Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh.
"A wide range of issues linked to Russian-Indian cooperation is to be
discussed, especially in trade and economic spheres," Ushakov went on to
say. He recalled that despite the world financial crisis, the
Russian-Indian trade is preserving a positive dynamics and in 2009 its
volume exceeded 7.5 billion dollars.
"Task has been set to increase it to 10 billion dollars by the end of
2010 and to 20 billion dollars by 2015," he clarified.
"Special attention will be paid to interaction in the sphere of high
technologies such as atomic energy, the defence industry and the
production of telecommunications equipment," Ushakov went on to say.
"Fourteen or fifteen agreements as well as contracts worth more than
10 billion dollars are expected to be signed as a result of the talks,"
Ushakov noted.
They include a contract for delivering to India of 29 MiG-29K
fighter jets as well as an additional contract for repairs and
modernization of the Admiral Gorshkov heavy aircraft carrier.
"This contract is going to solve all the existing (price) disputes. As
far as I can see we are close to reaching an agreement that will suit both
sides," Ushakov said, refusing to name the contract's price.
Russia and India will conclude a Contract for the construction of two
new units of the Kudankulam electric power station in addition to the two
existing ones.
Ushakov said that some documents would be signed in the presence of
the prime ministers of the two countries.

-0-fil/