Main News of April 4

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

WORLD

* The Russian government should begin planning economic sanctions against the United States if Washington does not cancel the Jackson-Vanik amendment, legislators and experts said

* If Russia fails to agree with Azerbaijan lease of the Gabala missile defense radar, Armenia is ready to provide a site on its territory for construction of the radar, Kommersant daily reported, quoting Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan

* Ten people including three NATO troops were killed and 30 injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up near the city hall in the town of Maimanah in northern Afghanistan's Faryab province on Wednesday, Afghan Tolo TV channel reported

RUSSIA

* A group of Russian rights activists and cultural figures asked President Dmitry Medvedev to bring his term of office to a “glorious” conclusion by pardoning a host of “political prisoners,” including former Yukos owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky

* St. Petersburg officials who earmarked 3.5 million rubles ($120,000) of state money for thousands of porcelain plates have been given a satirical award for the most ridiculous state tender in the city, the opposition Yabloko party said

* The Communist Party of the Russian Federation has been cleared for a series of rallies and marches in downtown Moscow over May holidays, Moscow city Communist Party Committee head Valery Rashkin said

BUSINESS

* The Kaliningrad Region carmaker Avtotor and Canadian automobile part manufacturer Magna plan to establish an automobile cluster with an annual production capacity of 350,000 cars in the region, Avtotor board chairman Vladimir Shcherbakov said

* President-elect Vladimir Putin has launched production of a new minivan, the Lada Largus, at AvtoVAZ's main Togliatti plant in Samara region

* A Moscow court has ordered fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky and his business partner Yuly Dubov to pay almost 1 billion rubles ($34 million) in a lawsuit filed by the Samara Region government, RAPSI news agency reported

* The Russian government will consider a bill raising the share of foreign participation in the statutory capital of Russian insurance companies to 50 percent from the current 25 percent, the government said

SPORTS

* Dynamo Moscow was like a “bomb” that tore SKA “to shreds” in an emphatic 4-0 series victory to book a place in the Gagarin Cup final, Dynamo wing Denis Tolpeko told RIA Novosti