Morning re-cap of main news, March 19

* Early exit polls projected that Belarus' hard-line president, Alexander Lukashenko, would receive more than 80% of the vote in Sunday's election, but opposition leaders threatened to protest the results of the voting, claiming it was rigged

* A tunnel roof crashed onto a moving train in Moscow's underground, damaging two carriages, but none of the passengers was hurt in the accident, believed to have been caused by neglect of safety rules at a construction site above the affected subway line

* The Russian Defense Ministry said it would create an infrastructure to provide comprehensive maintenance for the country's new Borei-class nuclear submarines, designed to carry Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles

* Russia may raise to 50 % the quota on foreign stakes in its insurance companies and banks as part of a bid to join the World Trade Organization, according to the country's chief negotiator at the WTO accession talks

* The defense team for four men convicted in Chechnya on charges of involvement in rebel attacks orchestrated by the notorious Chechen warlord Aslan Maskhadov appealed with Russia's Supreme Court