Main news of May 16

RUSSIA

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in a TV interview that more regional investment was needed for hospitals and healthcare in the country

* A Proton-M rocket with a ProtoStar-2 telecommunication satellite has lifted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, Russia's space agency Roscosmos said

WORLD

* Russian companies are ready to participate in building four nuclear power plant units in Turkey, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Saturday after talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday he hopes there will be progress on unresolved Russia-U.S. issues at a meeting with his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama in July

* NATO drills in Georgia have increased tensions and have not contributed to international security, the Russian president said after talks with Italy's prime minister on Saturday

* Georgia's former republic of Abkhazia has withdrawn from the fifth round of talks in Geneva planned for May 18-19, Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba said

* The World Health Organization on Saturday confirmed 8,451 human cases of A/H1N1 influenza in 36 countries, with 72 deaths

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi met on Saturday outside Moscow to discuss the upcoming G8 summit due to be held in July in Italy