Main news of March 5

RUSSIA

* The Moscow City Court ruled that it is lawful to provide hospital treatment for ex-Yukos executive Vasily Aleksanyan while under guard

* March 5 was the 55th anniversary of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's death

* Moscow insists that the international peacekeeping force in Kosovo operates strictly under the UN mandate, and that it shows "impartiality" and "objectivity," Russia's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said

* Russian health officials warned that the threat from the deadly bird flu virus is growing as countries are failing to implement effective disease control measures to deal with the crisis

WORLD

* U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Palestinians and Israelis plan to return to negotiating table, but did not specify a concrete timeframe for the future talks

* Serb's foreign minister left for New York to urge the UN to convene a special meeting to discuss Kosovo's independence, the country's Foreign Ministry said

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the latest sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council, saying the new resolution lacked authority

* China's GDP rose by 10.6%, or $3.46 trillion, in 2007, Premier Wen Jiabao said in his annual work report to the National People's Congress

* North Korea accused Washington of failing to honor its obligations to the country under six-nation agreements reached last year, in a commentary published in an official newspaper

* A sea-based Russian-Indian BrahMos supersonic cruise missile has successfully hit a designated ground target for the first time, a spokesman for the Indian manufacturer of the missile said

* Governments in Georgia's breakaway republics, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, began stepping up efforts to get their claims for independence recognized by the international community

* Security officials in Uzbekistan have seized a record 570 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of heroin with a street value of $10 million, a spokesperson said

BUSINESS

* Russian natural gas giant Gazprom resumed full gas supplies to Ukraine after a two-day reduction in deliveries, the company's spokesman said

* LUKoil, Russia's largest independent crude producer, said its proven oil reserves dropped 1.3% year-on-year in 2007 to 15.715 billion barrels

* Russia's crude production declined 0.5%, year-on-year, in January to 41.35 million metric tons (830,000 bbl/d) while gas production went up 0.8% to 61.19 billion cubic meters, the industry and energy ministry said