Moscow - The mayor of the capital of Russia's North Ossetia region, bordering Georgia, was shot dead in his car outside his home on Wednesday, Russian media reported.

Officials suspected a sniper attack, a police source told the Ria-Novosti news agency.

"There was a single bullet hole in the door of his vehicle. Presumably it was a single sniper shot which proved fatal," the unnamed police source said.

The Vladikavkaz mayor was rushed to an emergency ward after the shooting. Officials at the hospital said he died of a bullet wound to the heart.

Moscow - Russia's upper house of parliament on Wednesday approved a Kremlin bill to lengthen the presidential term from four to six years.

The bill to amend the constitution was backed by 144 senators, a majority in the Federation Council. Only one senator voted against.

The Kremlin-sponsored reform was on Friday near unanimously voted through Russia's lower house, the State Duma.

To become constitutional law the bill now faces one last vote, where it must be approved by two thirds of Russia's regional legislatures.

Moscow - Prosecutors called for the dismissal of the judge in the trial of three men for the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday.

Evgeny Zubov, the presiding judge at a Moscow Military Court, has been accused by Russia's General Prosecutor's office of "bias," a participant told the Interfax news agency.

Zubov has been embroiled in controversy ever since he ruled last week that the trial should be closed to the public and media representatives.

Moscow - A Russian naval squadron neared landfall in Venezuela on Tuesday for joint exercises in US-patrolled Caribbean waters - reviving Cold War-era maneuvers dating back to Soviet times.

The war games, which are being closely monitored by the United States, coincide with the two-day visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Caracas on Wednesday.

Medvedev will hold bilateral with avid US critic President Hugo Chavez, whose administration is a key Russian arms client.

Moscow /St Petersburg - A car exploded near a metro station in St Petersburg on Tuesday, killing three people, including a 3- year-old child, Russian news agencies said.

The blast went off near the Udelnaya station at 8:55 am, a local Emergency Situation Ministry spokesman said.

"A preliminary investigation shows that a man, his wife and their child were killed in the blast. The car driver has got wounds and is hospitalized," news agency Interfax quoted a Russian secret services source as saying.