News of the Day, 15:00 Moscow time

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed a claim by Kosovo PM Hashim Thaci that Moscow was getting ready to recognize the province as an independent state

* The Moscow Military District Court acquitted all defendants suspected of involvement in the murder of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya based on the jury's decision

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Serbian counterpart Vuk Jeremic signed in Moscow a deal on mutual visa-free travel for citizens of the two countries

* The murder case of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya will be referred back to an investigative committee at the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, a judge said

* Chairman of the Russian Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin, whose term of office expires on February 21, was reelected for another term

* Washington may look at setting up a military base in the Black Sea city of Trabzon in Turkey as an alternative to the Kyrgyz base which is due to close later this year, a Turkish newspaper said

* Georgian Defense Minister David Sikharulidze dismissed reports that his country is holding talks on setting up a NATO military base in the country

* Russian-Iranian trade turnover rose to $3.7 billion last year, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexei Borodavkin, said

* Ingushetia will transfer a 51% stake in a local energy firm to Russia's state-run oil giant Rosneft to increase crude output in the Russian North Caucasus republic, its president, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, said

* The number of officially unemployed people in Russia has risen by 72,000 in the last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said