Main news of March 4

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Ukraine and Russia should build reliable and confident relations based on strategic partnership, President Viktor Yanukovych said

* Iran threatened to give up its counter-proposal to the UN nuclear watchdog on a uranium swap, if new sanctions were adopted against the Islamic Republic

* Ukrainian deputies passed in the first reading a draft to ease the rules for forming a majority coalition in parliament, a priority task needed to avert political instability in the country

* At least 32 people were killed and 42 were wounded in three coordinated suicide attacks, which occurred in the central Iraqi city of Baquba just days before parliamentary elections seen as a crucial precursor to a complete US military withdrawal from the country, Al Jazeera has said

* Libya has decided to impose a "total" economic embargo on Switzerland following Libyan leader Moamer Gadhafi's declaration of holy war on the European nation, government spokesman Mohammed Baayou has said, as quoted by international media

RUSSIA

* A Chechen lawmaker slammed the idea of fingerprinting all North Caucasus residents as a violation of their human and civil rights

* Russia successfully test-launched a Sineva intercontinental ballistic missile from a submarine in the Barents Sea, a Defense Ministry spokesman said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said all attempts by Russian officials to hamper businesses for personal profit should be met with crushing response

BUSINESS

* Russian gas monopoly Gazprom confirmed that Ukraine's national oil and gas company had paid in full for gas delivered by Russia in February

* The Russian government has injected about 1 trillion rubles ($33 billion) into domestic banks in the 15 months since the global financial crisis hit the country in 2008, a government official said