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Main news of May 13

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RUSSIA

* Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport is preparing a $4 billion arms contract with Saudi Arabia, the Gazeta daily reported

* Up to 730 nuclear tests have been conducted in the past 50 years by the U.S., China, France, India, and Pakistan, a Russian Defense Ministry official said

* President Dmitry Medvedev has made a number of new appointments, including five advisors and six aides, the Kremlin press service said

* A Russian delegation will continue talks on the country's accession to the WTO in Geneva on May 19, Moscow's chief WTO negotiator Maxim Medvedkov said

* President Dmitry Medvedev met with the new head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, and outlined key tasks for the service

WORLD

* A powerful earthquake that hit China Monday has killed over 12,000 people so far, with another 94,000 unaccounted for, local authorities said

* A total of 34,273 people have been killed in Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis, the worst natural disaster to hit the region since the 2004 tsunami, the country's state television announced

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said:

- Relations with Moscow would continue to develop following the inauguration of Dmitry Medvedev as Russian president May 7

* Warsaw is not yet satisfied with U.S. proposals to modernize the Polish army in exchange for the placement of a U.S. missile base in Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said

* The radical Islamic group Hamas has refused to include the release of an Israeli soldier seized almost two years ago in the terms for a ceasefire with Israel in the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the group said

* At least five powerful explosions rocked the west Indian city of Jaipur, Rajasthan state, the country's television said

* Tel Aviv is skeptical that direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians will be possible during a proposed Mideast peace conference in Moscow this summer, the Israeli Ambassador to Russia said

* The country's Sunni Muslim leader Saad al-Hariri accused Iran of being behind recent violent clashes between supporters of the pro-Western government and Hezbollah-led opposition

* Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, 78, has married 43-year-old economist Maike Richter, Kohl's office announced

* Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko denied that she is using her position to secure victory in the 2009 presidential polls

BUSINESS

* Russia's anti-monopoly service said it had launched a probe into state oil giant Rosneft for using its dominant position to force gasoline prices up in East Siberia's Irkutsk Region

* Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov will sell a 50% stake in KM Invest to financial holding Interros, owned by his former business partner Vladimir Potanin, business daily Vedomosti reported

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