Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat continues to remain a centrist and seeks to defend civil peace, Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Tuesday.

Civil peace is a priority for Jumblat who is only interested in keeping Lebanon away from strife, Abou Faour, who represents the PSP chief in the cabinet, said.

A helicopter crashed on landing in Russia's remote Far East on Monday, killing three people and injuring two, the local branch of the emergencies ministry said.

The Mi-8 helicopter, which belonged to a local air firm and was inspecting lighthouses in the Chukotka region, was carrying three crew and two passengers when it crashed in the village of Billings.

A giant new Russian space telescope on Saturday unfurled its dish-like antenna which will observe radio waves from galaxies and black holes billions of light years away.

The operation to deploy the 10-meter-diameter antenna of the Spketr-R telescope, which was launched into orbit on Monday, was successfully carried out, space agency Roskosmos said in a statement.

The United States said Saturday it was "encouraged" by surprise talks between North and South Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear program, but remained cool on resuming disarmament talks.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told regional foreign ministers at an Asian security forum in Indonesia that the onus remained squarely on the North to prove its sincerity before the stalled six-party talks could resume.

Attitudes toward Muslims have become slightly more positive in the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and Russia compared with five years ago, although negative views between Muslim countries and the West persist on both sides, a Pew Center survey found.

The survey, by Pew's Global Attitudes Project, found majorities of Muslims surveyed in five of six Muslim-dominant countries and the Palestinian territories described non-Muslim Westerners as selfish and greedy.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat announced on Wednesday that Lebanon is committed to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s decisions, adding however that this does not mean that foreign meddling in Lebanon is permitted.

He made his statements after holding talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during his ongoing visit to Russia.

One of Russia's most senior former nuclear officials has been arrested for allegedly pocketing state research grants and stealing other people's work off the Internet, a news report said Wednesday.

Yevgeny Yevstratov, who served as deputy general director of the Rosatom state nuclear corporation, oversaw a group that received some 50 million rubles ($1.7 million) in nuclear safety research assistance.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's Foreign Minister Abdelati al-Obeidi is to visit Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, reports said Tuesday.

Lavrov and al-Obeidi will discuss the current situation in Libya and African Union-led mediation efforts in the meeting on Wednesday afternoon in Moscow, Russian news agencies said, without giving further details.

Russia on Monday refused to recognize the rebel National Transitional Council as Libya's official authority but said it would view it as a formal negotiating partner.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week's recognition by Western and regional powers of the opposition government at the expense of Moammar Gadhafi's regime was tantamount to picking sides in a civil war.

Four Russian policemen were killed and nine others wounded Monday in two separate blasts in Russia's restive North Caucasus, news agencies quoted local law enforcement officials as saying.

Two policemen were killed and seven injured in the wooded mountains of restive Chechnya, Interfax quoted a law enforcement official as saying.