Main news of April 1

RUSSIA

* Russia and the United States are concerned by the possible launch of a North Korean ballistic missile, and urge the country to show restraint, the two presidents said in a joint statement

* Relations between Russia and the United States have a "new quality," with each side ready to give heed to the other's positions, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* Russian authorities will take quick action in bringing the counterterrorist operation in Chechnya to an end, the North Caucasus republic's president said

* Investigators in St. Petersburg opened a criminal case on Wednesday into the explosion that ripped a hole in a Vladimir Lenin statue in Russia's second city, police said

* The Paris-based international organization Reporters Without Borders strongly criticized on Wednesday the death of a journalist and the beating of a prominent human rights activist in Moscow

* Border guards in Russia's northern Murmansk Region seized on Wednesday more than 2 tons of crab worth around 2 million rubles ($59,000), the Federal Security Service (FSB) said

* Russia's Superjet 100 medium-haul airliner completed its first long-distance test flight

* World No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia progressed to the semifinals of the $4.5 million Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament in Miami, Florida

WORLD

* Russia and Britain are set to improve relations despite persisting differences, Russia's ambassador to London said on Wednesday after a meeting between the Russian president and British prime minister

* Albania and Croatia officially became NATO's newest members on Wednesday, bringing the number of countries in the military alliance to 28

* The Russian and U.S. presidents, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, agreed on a bilateral agenda at their first meeting in London on Wednesday, and said they were ready to "reset" bilateral relations

* The Russian and U.S. presidents announced on Wednesday that negotiators would immediately start talks on a new strategic arms reduction treaty that could cut existing nuclear arsenals below 1,700 warheads

* Vladimir Putin expressed Wednesday the hope that Russia's relations with Israel will develop at the same rate as before now the new government has taken office, the Russian prime minister's spokesman said

* The majority of Israelis are dissatisfied with the newly formed government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a survey published on Wednesday by the liberal Haaretz newspaper

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama are still in disagreement on the placement of elements of a U.S. missile shield in Central Europe, the presidents said

* Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov confirmed on Wednesday that Sulim Yamadayev, a former Chechen military commander, was buried in Dubai two days ago

* Eight people were killed and at least seven wounded on Wednesday when four suicide bombers attacked a municipal building in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, an Interior Ministry spokesman said

* U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev met for the first time on Wednesday in London where they are expected to announce the restart of talks on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty

* Ukraine's parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday for the presidential election to be held on October 25 this year, three months ahead of the date President Viktor Yushchenko had pushed for

* Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqawi denied on Wednesday comments by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that talks were held between the two countries at a conference in The Hague

* Pyongyang has announced that any attempt by Japan to shoot down a rocket, which is scheduled to launch a communications satellite April 4-8, would be considered an act of war, a North Korean news agency said

* Iran is considering exporting gas to Europe via Iraq, Syria and the Mediterranean Sea, the petroleum minister of the Islamic republic said

* Seven people were killed when a truck and a car crashed in southern Kazakhstan, the country's emergencies ministry said

BUSINESS

* Russia's Reserve Fund went down in March to 4.117 trillion rubles ($121.5 billion), and National Welfare Fund reduced to 2.915 trillion rubles ($86 billion), the Finance Ministry said