Main news of March 27

RUSSIA

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the Federal Security Service (FSB) chief to consider formally ending the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya

* Russia is ready to actively contribute to normalization of the situation in Afghanistan, President Dmitry Medvedev said in a welcome message to the participants of an international conference

* The main suspect in the sale of more than 130 women as sex slaves is a colonel from Russia's foreign intelligence service (GRU), the head of the Military Investigations Service said

* A museum devoted to Nikolai Gogol opened in Moscow in the building where the writer spent the last four years of his life

* Jailed Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky has said jury trials should be more widespread and play a greater role in Russia, where suspects pleading not guilty are virtually guaranteed a conviction and harsher sentence

* The Russian government issued a resolution cutting the oil export duty from $115 to $110 per metric ton from April 1

WORLD

* A deputy Russian foreign minister, Alexei Borodavkin, joined international criticism of North Korea's planned launch of a rocket, warning the reclusive communist country against increasing tensions in the region

* Japan's Security Council gave approval to the military to destroy a North Korean rocket if the reclusive communist state goes ahead with its planned launch, government sources announced

* A spokesman for Kyrgyzstan's president rejected reports that the country is considering allowing U.S. troops to remain at the Manas airbase

* The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) failed to elect a new director general for the second day

* At least 37 people were killed in two separate bus accidents in China, local media said

* Rescuers recovered at least 50 bodies after a dam burst flooding a populated area on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital, dozens of others are reported missing, the Jakarta Post said

* A two-year-old girl has been diagnosed with bird flu in Egypt, a health ministry spokesman said

* The French father of a 3-year-old girl kidnapped in France last Friday said he was ready to conclude an amicable settlement agreement with his ex-wife if the Russian court allowed him to see his daughter

* There are no plans for bilateral Iranian-U.S. talks at the conference on Afghanistan being held in Moscow, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Akhundzadeh told journalists

* Pakistan is seeking full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional security group, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told an international conference in Moscow

* European Parliament members have objected to plans to invite the president of Belarus to a summit of EU and ex-Soviet states, citing his failure to end human rights violations, a spokesman said

SPORT

* American Evan Lysacek won gold at the 2009 Figure Skating World Championship in Los Angeles, bringing the U.S. its first crown in the men's individual event for the past 13 years

* Rising Russian tennis star Alisa Kleibanova moved into the third round of the $4.5 million Sony Ericsson Open in Miami with a straight-sets win; Russia's Elena Dementieva won an all-Russia encounter, beating Anastasia Pivovarova; Maria Kirilenko lost to Italian Flavia Penetta; and in the men's, Russia's Marat Safin defeated Spain's Oscar Hernandez in their second round tie