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Main news of April 24

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RUSSIA * A controversial senior lawmaker spoke out on Friday in defense of the public use of Russian swearwords, or mat * Russia on Friday kicked off its... 24.04.2009, Sputnik International

2009-04-24T18:00+0000

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Main news of April 24

18:00 GMT 24.04.2009

RUSSIA

* A controversial senior lawmaker spoke out on Friday in defense of the public use of Russian swearwords, or mat

* Russia on Friday kicked off its annual St. George Ribbon campaign on the Far East island of Sakhalin in honor of those who fought in World War II

* The lower house of the Russian parliament passed on Friday a law allowing formal plea bargaining

* The chief of Russia's military intelligence (GRU), Gen. Valentin Korabelnikov, was relieved of his post after handing in his notice, a Defense Ministry spokesman said

* The captain of a Russian fishing boat died on Friday after being rescued along with the rest of his crew after their trawler sank in the Barents Sea near Norway's northern coast, Russian officials said

* The chief of Russia's military intelligence (GRU), Gen. Valentin Korabelnikov, has been relieved of his post by President Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin press service said

* Russia began the defense of its ice hockey world championship crown on Friday with a convincing 5-0 victory over Germany in the Swiss city of Berne

* Russia has reintroduced counter-terrorism operations in three districts of southern Chechnya, the Interior Ministry's operative headquarters in the republic said

WORLD

* A 33-year-old woman from the northern Egyptian province of Kafr el-Sheikh died of bird flu on Friday, the country's health ministry said in a statement

* There will be no foreign military involvement in this summer's Sea Breeze military exercises in Ukraine's Crimea, a first deputy Ukrainian navy commander said

* Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and his government will succumb to pressure to quit in several days, the country's former foreign minister and an opposition leader said

* The parents of a 3-year-old French-Russian girl involved in a "tug of love" dispute over their daughter have reached an amicable agreement, a prominent Russian lawyer said

* Russia has condemned two terrorist attacks in Iraq that killed more than 80 people and injured around 120, including women and children, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its web site

* North Korea does not as yet intend to return to six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula's nuclear problem, but Russia hopes Pyongyang heeds its call to do so, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* A uranium mine with potential output of 3,000 metric tons per year has been opened at the Northern Khorasan deposit in southwest Kazakhstan's Kyzylorda Region, the national uranium export company said

* At least 10 people were killed and another 15 injured when a clothes factory collapsed in northern China early on Friday, the China Daily reported

* The Venezuelan government has formally handed back a small uninhabited island in the Delaware River, which had been used by a state company to store fuel, to the United States

* The first round of Russian-U.S. consultations on a new strategic arms reductions treaty began in Rome

* Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said on Friday that international recognition and condemnation of the genocide of Armenians was necessary to restore historical justice

* Around 30,000 people were forced to flee their homes following floods in northeast Brazil's Maranhao state, Brazil's Civil Defense service said

BUSINESS

* Eni has closed the deal to sell a 20% stake in Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft to its parent company, Gazprom, for $4.2 billion, the Italian energy giant announced