* Georgian authorities said the upper part of the Kodori Gorge, the de facto border between Georgia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia, was under rocket and artillery fire for 40 minutes during the night
* The shelling in the Kodori Gorge was the result of an incursion by Georgian troops into the area, a senior Russian diplomat said
* Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said any attack on upper Kodori, where the Georgian military has been deployed since the summer of 2006, would be regarded as an attack on Georgia
* Moscow said Iran was abusing its good relations with Russia and urged Tehran to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog over its disputed nuclear program
* Russia's nuclear equipment and services exporter, Atomstroyexport, said:
- Russian and Iranian experts began talks on a financial dispute related to the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran
- the Bushehr NPP will not be launched in September 2007 as planned
- Russia will not supply nuclear fuel to the Bushehr nuclear power plant in March
* Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree reducing conscripted military service in Russia to one year as of January 2008
* Russia's Foreign Ministry said:
- Moscow welcomes the latest meeting between the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the Israeli prime minister
- Moscow believes a comprehensive settlement in Iraq can be reached only on the basis of a broad consensus in Iraqi society
* Kyrgyzstan's new opposition movement, led by ex-Prime Minister Felix Kulov, said it would begin protests April 9 to demand early presidential elections and a new constitution
* Ukraine plans to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) later this year, a Ukrainian official said
* PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said it protests the seizure of documents from its Moscow office, which have nothing to do with tax claims for 2002
* The Russian Prosecutor General's Office wants to interview more than 100 people in London as part of an investigation into the poisoning of ex-FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko, a deputy prosecutor general said
* A Georgian military helicopter crashed early Monday in the east of the country, killing three, a defense ministry official said
*A Belarusian transport plane was hit from a grenade launcher as it was landing in the capital of Somalia, Mogadishu, Belarus's Transportation and Communications Ministry said
* The Kremlin-backed United Russia party is leading the electoral race in the majority of regions where local elections took place Sunday
* A court in Chechnya sentenced a Turkish citizen to 23 years in prison for his involvement in terrorism and criminal activities on Russian territory, a local prosecutor's office said
