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Main News of April 16

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A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours 16.04.2013, Sputnik International

2013-04-16T19:59+0000

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Main News of April 16

19:59 GMT 16.04.2013

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

Iran’s first nuclear power plant in Bushehr was not affected by the devastating earthquake that hit the country on Tuesday, Russia’s Federal Atomic Agency Rosatom said

* An US military policeman based in Alaska has been sentenced to 16 years in prison and given a dishonorable discharge for selling US military secrets to someone he thought was a Russian spy

* North Korea accused the United States on Tuesday of attempting to mislead the public by suggesting the possibility of a dialogue between the two countries, the Yonhap news agency reported

* Central Boston was on lockdown Tuesday as police questioned witnesses and pored over evidence, vowing to “go to the ends of the earth” to catch and punish the perpetrators of Monday’s deadly double bomb attack at the famed Boston Marathon that killed three people and wounded 176

* Iran has successfully test-fired a medium range shore-to-sea ballistic missile in the Persian Gulf, the Islamic republic’s deputy defense minister Majid Bokaei said

* At least three people were killed Monday and more than 100 others injured, some critically, after a pair of powerful explosions ripped through a crowd near the finish line while the prestigious Boston Marathon was still in progress, local authorities and media in Boston reported

* Nicolas Maduro, the handpicked successor of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, was declared winner of Sunday’s elections early on Tuesday Moscow time, as opposition supporters rallied in various parts of Caracas demanding a vote recount

RUSSIA

* Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, passed on Tuesday in the first reading a bill that would significantly alter the current parliamentary electoral procedures

* Dialogue between the Syrian government and opposition forces could begin within the next several months, Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil, leader of the People’s Will party, said

* Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered the government on Tuesday to devise a new investment program with funding of no less than 100 billion rubles (around $3.22 billion) a year to develop the country’s depressed eastern Siberia and Far East regions by 2018, the government said

* Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Russia's assistance on Tuesday in the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three on Monday and left more than 140 injured

SCIENCE

* The Russian government has allocated 7 billion rubles (around $230 million) from the federal budget for development programs at the Kurchatov Institute, renowned for its achievements in nuclear science, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said

DEFENSE

* China revealed the composition and structure of its armed forces, including its nuclear deterrent, for the first time on Tuesday in a new edition of a white paper on national defense that also elaborates the country’s new security plan

* The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office found over 65,000 violations during last year’s draft of conscripts for the armed forces, the office said