Main news of January 13

RUSSIA

* Russian gas has been stolen after being pumped into Ukraine's gas transportation system, an official spokesman for Russian energy giant Gazprom said

* Russia will prioritize gas supplies to countries that have been the worst affected by the ongoing dispute with Ukraine, the Russian prime minister said

* The death toll in an explosion that ripped through a building in Nazran, in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, on Tuesday has risen to eight, the local emergencies service said

* The number of registered users to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's personal video blog passed 3,500 on Tuesday afternoon, a Kremlin spokesman responsible for the Kremlin's internet press services said

* Russia has received export orders for the delivery of Ka-52 Hokum-B combat helicopters from three countries, the manufacturer said

* Russian energy giant Gazprom gave the go-ahead at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time (07:00 a.m. GMT) on Tuesday to resume gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine

* Nineteen sailors were rescued from a Russian trawler that got into difficulties in the Barents Sea on Tuesday, Norwegian NRK radio reported

* Shipbuilding contributes up to $7 billion to the annual portfolio of orders of Russia's state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport, an executive at the government hi-tech corporation Rostekhnologii said

* Two people were killed and 22 others hospitalized on Tuesday after an explosion at a building in Nazran, in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, a spokesman for the local investigators said

* Seven Tajik migrant workers died on Tuesday when a fire broke out at a make-shift dormitory located in an underground car park in southeast Moscow, a spokesman for the city's emergencies service said

* The Other Russia opposition coalition plans to hold a "Day of Dissent" in Moscow on January 31, an executive committee member said

* Aerial hunting at low altitude may have been the cause of a Mi-171 helicopter crash last week in Altai, south Siberia, which left seven people dead including a top official, a Russian business daily said

* Zenit St. Petersburg forward Andrei Arshavin has refused to join the side at its pre-season camp in the United Arab Emirates, the Sovetski Sport paper said on Tuesday, citing a source close to the player

* All four people on board the Mi-2 helicopter that crashed in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area in West Siberia were killed, local emergencies services said

WORLD

* The president of the European Parliament urged on Tuesday Moscow and Kiev to uphold an agreement on international monitoring of gas transit from Russia to Europe via Ukraine, signed on Monday

* The death toll from Zimbabwe's worst cholera epidemic in decades reached 2,024 on Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said

* The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) resumed talks on its observer missions in Georgia and the breakaway republic of South Ossetia on Tuesday, Russia's OSCE envoy said

* The Ukrainian president denied on Tuesday that Kiev was blocking Russian gas transit to Europe or stealing gas, following a failure by Russia to make a test delivery through Ukraine

* Hamas is holding civilians hostage and using them as human shields during Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, Israel's ambassador to Russia said

* A member of Georgia's opposition Labor Party on Tuesday accused the family of President Mikheil Saakashvili of embezzling some $90 million from the state budget

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin informed European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso on Tuesday that Ukraine was blocking the transit of Russian natural gas to Europe

* The UN has given shelter to tens of thousands of Palestinians in its schools in the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said

* A law extending the powers of Turkmenistan's parliament came into force on Tuesday after being published in the official press

* Ukraine's biggest opposition faction started on Tuesday procedures to impeach President Viktor Yushchenko, and also called for the dismissal of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's government

* Israeli troops are reported to have intensified their attacks on Palestinian positions overnight as they fought running battles with Islamic militants and pushed further into Gaza City, medics said

* Thirty-four people are reported to have survived while some 200 are still missing feared dead after a ferry sank off east Indonesia, local media said

* Russian gas deliveries to Armenia via Georgia, suspended on January 9 for repair work to the pipeline, resumed late on Monday, a spokesman for the ArmRosgazprom joint venture said

* A new case of avian flu has been confirmed in a young girl in Egypt, the deputy health minister said

BUSINESS