Main news of April 28

RUSSIA

* The Ukrainian-Russian Zenit-3SLB carrier rocket has successfully put the Amos-3 Israeli communications satellite into orbit, Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said

* Moscow welcomes Poland's latest statements on a new partnership deal between Russia and the European Union, and hopes the country will no longer veto the negotiations, the Foreign Ministry said

* A Russian government official issued a statement reassuring Iran's critics that ongoing security consultations between Russia and Iran are of a peaceful nature, and do not threaten any other countries

* Tbilisi is behaving in a provocative manner toward Russia over the issue of Georgia's breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russia's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said

* Members of a doomsday sect holed up in a dugout in central Russia have said that they will come to the surface after a religious holiday in mid-June, the son of one of the sect's leaders said

WORLD

* The Georgian breakaway republic of Abkhazia is prepared to sign a military agreement with Russia, the Abkhaz foreign minister said

* At least 66 people were killed and 247 injured after two trains smashed into each other following a derailment in eastern China, the China Central Television Station reported

* The signing of a treaty on the deployment of a missile-defense radar station in the Czech Republic was postponed, a Czech Foreign Ministry spokesperson said

* France's Foreign Ministry gave political asylum documents to Georgian opposition leader Irakly Okruashvili, his lawyer said

* At least seven Palestinians, including four children and their mother, were killed as Israeli tanks shelled a residential area in the north of the Gaza Strip, local health officials said

* India launched a PSLV-C9 rocket carrying 10 satellites, a record number for the country's space program, national television reported

* The only survivor of a Black Sea helicopter crash has died in hospital, bringing the death toll to 20, a Ukrainian emergency service spokesman said

* Residents of a small Austrian town are said to be in shock after details came to light of a house-of-horrors where a 73-year-old man imprisoned and abused his daughter for 24 years in a windowless basement

* The next launch of a U.S. space shuttle to the International Space Station (ISS) was scheduled for May 31, Russia's Federal Space Agency said, citing NASA officials

BUSINESS

* Italy's outgoing premier, Romano Prodi, formally turned down an offer to head South Stream, a natural gas project by Gazprom and Italy's Eni, an Italian government spokesperson said 

* Japan will pay over $31 million to Russia for the right to catch salmon in Russian waters in 2008, Russia's fishing regulator said

* Russia and Ukraine agreed to resume production of the An-124 Ruslan (Condor) heavy-lift transport aircraft in 2008, Russia's Prime Minister  Viktor Zubkov said

* Capital inflow into Russia stood at $10 billion in April against capital outflow of $22 billion in the first quarter of 2008, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said