Main news of April 29

WORLD

* Britain’s Prince William and Kate Middleton were married at Westminster Abbey at 11:00 local time in the presence of 1,900 guests, and watched on TV by an estimated two billion viewers, in what will be remembered as the social event of the century

* NATO plans to put pressure on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi until his troops stop attacking civilians, NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said

* U.S. officials exerted “physical and psychological pressure” on a Russian cargo pilot after his arrest in Liberia on drug trafficking charges last year, the Russian Foreign Ministry said

* Belarus is facing shortages of imported goods following its international currency deficit, with items like fruit juices, diapers and household chemicals disappearing from the shelves

RUSSIA

* Russia will “make the right choice” on regulating the Internet, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday, hinting that the government did not intend to impose Chinese-style bans on websites

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev expressed his condolences to U.S. President Barack Obama and offered assistance in tackling the after-effects of tornadoes that ripped through the southern United States

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appointed former First Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin as head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos

BUSINESS

* A planned increase in gasoline duties in Russia is a temporary measure, a deputy finance minister said

* Russia, the world’s largest oil producer, will hike its gasoline export duty by 44 percent from May 1 instead of an expected 34 percent to fight local fuel shortages, the government said

SCIENCE

* NASA was forced to delay the final flight of its Endeavour shuttle

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