Main News of April 6

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* The latest round of talks between six world powers and Iran on its nuclear program has been “definitely a step forward,” although it has ended with no clear breakthrough, Russia's top negotiator on Iran said

* White House Spokesman Jay Carney said Friday that the United States “would not be surprised” if North Korea launches another missile

* As if the US Magnitsky Act had not irritated Moscow enough, the controversial law could put Russian officials at loggerheads with the Kremlin as well

* Four Italian journalists were abducted on Friday in northern Syria, Italy’s ANSA news agency reported early on Saturday Moscow time, citing a foreign ministry statement

* Warsaw will reply to Russia’s proposal to build a gas pipeline via the Polish territory within the next few months, after studying the issue closely, Polish deputy premier and economics minister Janusz Piechocinski said

* About 120 tons of radioactive water leaked from the disaster-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northern Japan, the plant’s operator said 

* Fifty men in their 90s may face prison terms in Germany over allegations of their service as guards at Auschwitz, the biggest concentration camp in Nazi Germany, local media said

RUSSIA

* Russia will discuss with US officials the return of Kirill Kuzmin, a two-year-old Russian boy adopted by a Texan couple along with his brother, who died in January, a Russian diplomat said

* Investigators suspect an embezzlement of more than 30 million rubles (over $1 million), allocated by the Russian culture ministry for making a movie, a spokesman for the Moscow Investigative Committee department, Sergei Stukalov, said

* The European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) notified Russian authorities that it had received an application from a political activist demanding a compensation of 500,000 euros (approximately $650) from the state, defense lawyer Dmitry Agranovsky told the RAPSI news agency

* Watching TV remains the most popular way of relaxing among Russians, with 25 percent of respondents saying they prefer siting in front of television in their spare time, according a survey by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM)

* The NPO Energomash company has completed trials of a new engine for proposed Russian lightweight carrier rocket Soyuz 2.1 and is currently preparing it for serial production, the company’s CEO said

* Russia’s naval task force dispatched to the Mediterranean has passed the Strait of Malacca and entered the Indian Ocean, a Pacific Fleet spokesman told RIA Novosti

* An iconic Russian Cold War bomber, which had been reported to suffer a minor malfunction, actually burned beyond recovery for unclear reasons, Kommersant daily said

* Spelling an unpleasant end of the winter for local utilities services, a woman was found stabbed to death in northwestern Moscow– with the corpse apparently having spent weeks in the street, covered by snow

* Reminding of a less-known side to the struggle for fine arts, Russia’s most visited art museum held on Saturday an event in honor of its staff felines

* Some 600 people gathered on Saturday for a rally in central Moscow in support of those arrested over last year’s clashes on Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square, a police spokesman said

* Moscow believes the United Nations is disrupting an investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria under pressure of “certain states,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement

* A chief doctor at a maternity clinic in the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz was detained by police on Saturday while trying to sell a newborn baby for 1 million rubles ($31,700), a police spokesman has said

* Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will hold talks with his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic on April 10, the Russian government’s press service said

* Tough FIFA rules mean it could cost nearly $800 million to make Moscow’s vast Luzhniki arena fit to host the 2018 World Cup final, the Russian capital’s top construction official said