Main News of January 30

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours.

WORLD

*The Syrian army cleared eastern suburbs of Damascus from rebels and restored control of the area, the Al Watan daily reported.

*Britain's intelligent services, MI5 and MI6 will unveil classified documents relating to the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was fatally poisoned in London in 2006, The Daily Mail reported.

*Iranian specialists plan to use domestically-produced fuel rods for a research reactor in the capital Tehran in just a few months, Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said.

*Syrian rebel forces have disrupted an attempt by relatives of President Bashar al-Assad to leave the country late on Sunday, Egypt’s Al-Masry-Al-Youm newspaper said.

 

RUSSIA

*Russia’s largest independent election monitoring group, Golos, said on Monday it was being pressured by the authorities ahead of presidential polls at which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is to seek a third stint in the Kremlin.

*The stand-off between Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and anti-government protesters may escalate into a civil war, billionaire presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov was cited as saying.

*Managers of a Russian TV channel say they will not punish a newsreader who mistakenly reported that the Russian internet community was actively discussing whether Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin should be buried.

*Russia's opposition should hold a dialogue with the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the nation needs more political cooperation, rather than the existing vertical power structure, jailed former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky said in an article in The New Times magazine, published.

*Russian investigators claim that the wife of former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, Yelena Baturina, continues to ignore an invitation to return to Russia for questioning in a bank fraud case, RIA Novosti reported.

 

BUSINESS

*Russia’s recently launched campaign against offshore firms is needed but has the potential to increase pressure on business, experts polled by Prime news agency said on Monday.