ITAR-TASS overnight news cycle for February 8-1.

.Norwegian MPs to consider ratification of Artic border delimitation.

OSLO, February 8 (Itar-Tass) - Norway's Storting, the national
parliament, is expected to consider ratification of a Norwegian-Russian
treaty on the delimitation of sea spaces in the Barents Sea and the Arctic
Ocean.
The discussion of the issue will be followed by plenary voting, with
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere attending.
The Storting's foreign policy and defense committee has already
adopted the text of the document unanimously.
A resolution passed by the committee says the treaty completes the
delimitation of Arctic sea spaces between the two countries and lifts all
the unresolved problems in this sphere.
The document, according to the Norwegian MPs, keeps up the practice of
cooperation between the sides in fisheries and does not introduce any
changes in the rights to fish catch.
In addition, it sets up the procedures for shared and responsible
utilization of hydrocarbon deposits in case they cross the delimitation
line, the parliamentary decision says.
It describes the treaty as a document resolving a big and complicated
territorial issue and laying the foundation for closer cooperation with
Russia, the MPs said.
According to the committee's data, the 1,680 kilometers-long
delimitation line will divide the litigious sector having the area of
175,200 square kilometers. Each side will get ownership of a space of
about 87,600 square kilometers.
The treaty was signed by Russian and Norwegian Foreign Ministers in
Murmansk September 15, 2010, marking a completion of the talks on the
delimitation problem that lasted 40 years.
It set the first ever instance of a peaceful resolution of an Arctic
territorial dispute.

.Moldova's Constitution Court to decide on when to elect President.

CHISINAU, February 8 (Itar-Tass) - Moldova's Constitution Court holds
a session Tuesday to decide on when the national President is to be
elected.
An appeal for discussing the issue was filed by the opposition
Communist Party.
The Communists believe that the election should be held in compliance
with the law within two months after the vacating of presidential post by
Interim President Mihai Ghimpu, who resigned December 28, 2010.
This means that the next election should be held February 28 at the
latest, the Communist Party insists.
However, a number of Moldovan politicians claim this legislative
provision is restricted to the presidents who have been elected, like the
Communist leader Vladimir Voronin. The latter man vacated the office back
in September 29.
As for the interim presidents, these politicians insist that the
two-months provision does not apply here, as the law does not set any
deadlines for electing the president in the situation as it is now.
Moldovan parliament is unable to elect a president, which it is
supposed to do under the terms of the national Constitution, for the
second straight year. The deadlock did not end even after political power
in this country changed hands.
The ruling liberalist Alliance for European Integration has 59 seats
in the 101-seat parliament and the Communist Party has the remaining 42
seats.
To elect a president 61 votes are needed and if the MPs fail to elect
the head of state at two attempts the parliament is to be dissolved -
something that has happened twice since spring 2009.

.Guardian newspaper correspondent denied entry to Russia.

LONDON, February 8 (Itar-Tass) - Russian border authorities have
denied an entry of the country's territory to Luke Harding, the Moscow
Correspondent for The Guardian newspaper, the publication said Monday
night.
According to international media reports, Harding said in a telephone
interview that he was refused entry to Russia when he returned to Moscow
from London last Saturday.
Though he had a journalist's visa valid until May 2011, Harding said,
Russian passport control officials told him without explanation that he
was not being allowed into the country and would be deported.
After being held for about an hour, he said, he was put on a plane
back to London.
"We have been in contact with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
including through a call from the foreign secretary, to seek clarity on
this decision," a spokesman for the foreign office said Monday night. "We
are awaiting a reply."
In the meantime, officials at Russian security services have declined
to comment on the situation.
-0-kle


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