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Main news of March 30

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RUSSIA * Sulim Yamadayev, the former commander of the Chechen Vostok battalion, died in hospital on Monday following an attack in Dubai over the weekend, a... 30.03.2009, Sputnik International

2009-03-30T18:13+0000

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Main news of March 30

18:13 GMT 30.03.2009

RUSSIA

* Sulim Yamadayev, the former commander of the Chechen Vostok battalion, died in hospital on Monday following an attack in Dubai over the weekend, a close relative said on the phone

* Russia expects the "reset" in relations with the United States will produce tangible results, such as growth in investment and trade, a Kremlin aide said

* Russia's Communist Party is to hold nationwide rallies on April 4 to call for the government to step down over what it calls a failure to deal with the economic crisis, the party's deputy head said

* Russia's prime minister said on Monday that the country's largest car producer, AvtoVAZ, is likely to receive a state bailout of over $590 mln to keep it afloat amid sluggish sales and soaring debts

* The Imperial House of the Romanovs is to submit a request for the exoneration of the tsar's family members, who were killed along with the Russian royal family, the Romanov chancellery director told reporters

* Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) may decline by 4.5% this year, the World Bank said in a revised report

* Siblings Marat and Dinara Safin led a succession of Russians out of the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament in Miami, although four women did make Monday's fourth round

* Japanese carmaker Toyota on Monday suspended for six working days the production of Camry cars at its plant near St. Petersburg, a company spokesman said

WORLD

* The French father of a 3-year-old girl kidnapped in France March 20 said Monday that the location of his daughter is known to his ex-wife's common-law husband

* Russia's vice-consul in Odessa, southern Ukraine, was discovered dead early on Monday, local media said

* The head of PACE invited representatives from Abkhazia and South Ossetia on Monday to attend the assembly's next session in Strasbourg aimed at restoring dialogue between Russia and Georgia

* Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Monday talks between the European Union and Russia on a new comprehensive cooperation treaty should be intensified

* Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in an interview with RIA Novosti on Monday dismissed critics of the Group of Eight major nations, saying there were no plans to dissolve the international forum

* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday his country was ready to develop closer ties with the European Union

* China has no plans for special operations against North Korea's upcoming rocket launch, a Chinese Air Force General said

* The indigenous Maori people in New Zealand are converting to Orthodoxy under the influence of Russian immigrants, the diocese in Russia's Urals said on Monday, citing a Russian emigre

* Eight people were killed and seven wounded in a blast caused by a suicide bomber in southern Afghanistan, a local Interior Ministry's source said

* Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro criticized U.S. Vice President Joe Biden for ruling out any imminent lifting of the country's long-term economic embargo against Cuba, Latin American media said

* Ukraine's president said in an interview published on Monday that his country's natural gas cooperation agreement with the EU would not lead to a new "gas war" with Russia

* The death toll from Friday's dam flooding on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital has risen to 99, and another 151 people are missing, local media reported

* Turkey's ruling AK Party won 39% of the vote in local general elections, but failed to secure the sweeping victory it had hoped for in cities dominated by secularist opposition