Main news of April 9

RUSSIA

* Outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin met with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the Kremlin

* Russia and Poland have failed again to reach an agreement over the proposed U.S. missile shield in Central Europe, Russia's Foreign Ministry said

* A senior member of the Russian lower house of parliament said that Russia could claim the Crimea if Ukraine was admitted to NATO

* Last November's fuel spill in the Kerch Strait has inflicted damages totaling 20 billion rubles ($867 million), according to Russia's environmental regulator 

* Two of the doomsday sect members holed up in an underground shelter in central Russia since November have died, a group member that came to the surface a week ago said

* The trial of a man accused of murdering six people after feeding them rat poison has been suspended after the alleged serial killer slashed his wrists, the Vremya Novostei daily said

WORLD

* Kosovo's parliament approved a national constitution due to enter into force on June 15, Serbia's BETA news agency reported

* Iran has begun tests of advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges, a deputy head of the Islamic Republic's Atomic Energy Organization said

* Authorities in China's Gansu province have detained 432 people, including 170 monks, for involvement in violent protests against Chinese rule in Tibet in mid-March, a local official said

* Iran will build another uranium enrichment facility by next March, a deputy head of the country's nuclear energy organization said

* Two Israeli civilians and four Palestinian militants were killed near the Israel-Gaza Strip border after a Palestinian attack on a fuel depot, local media said

* Thailand will not bring charges against a suspected Russian arms dealer arrested in Bangkok on March 6, Viktor Bout's lawyer said

* Serzh Sarkisyan was sworn in as Armenian president as the former Soviet republic looked to put recent electoral violence behind it

* Armenia's president appointed Central Bank chief Tigran Sarkisyan as the Caucasus state's prime minister, the presidential press office said

* Geologists in eastern Turkmenistan have discovered more than one hundred fossilized dinosaur footprints, believed to be some 145 million years old, national media said

BUSINESS

* Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft announced it had started developing cargo and business versions of its much touted Superjet-100 regional aircraft

* The State Duma adopted a bill regulating the offering of foreign securities in Russia in its first reading

* Ernst & Young has received a back tax claim for over 390 million rubles ($16 million) in Russia, following a similar claim pressed against PricewaterhouseCoopers, business daily Kommersant reported