Main news of March 15

RUSSIA

* Russia failed to put a U.S. AMC-14 telecommunications satellite into its target orbit after a booster rocket malfunctioned during the launch, Russia's Federal Space Agency said

* Russia's top two women tennis players Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova won convincing second round victories at the Pacific Life Open singles in Indian Wells, California

WORLD

* A partial vote count following Iran's parliamentary election has given a landslide victory to conservatives who broadly support the hard-line president, Fars news agency said

* The severe impact of climate change in Central Asia is causing water and food shortages that could lead to regional conflicts, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana warned

* China's National People's Congress re-elected Hu Jintao as president on Saturday in an almost unanimous vote, giving him a new five-year term at the helm of the world's most populous nation

* A court in Kiev sentenced three suspects in the murder of Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze to 12-13 years in prison