Main news of May 22

WORLD

* U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law legislation to reduce the financing of wasteful and inefficient military programs

* Estonia has been forced to sell the residence of its ambassador in London due to budget cuts amid the financial crisis, the country's Foreign Ministry said

* Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed on Friday that Russia pay Ukraine five years in advance for natural gas transit, to help Kiev buy gas to fill its underground storage facilities and ensure uninterrupted supplies to Europe

* Members of the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) plan to speed up the setting up of a customs union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, a Russian deputy economics minister said

* Russia and Jordan signed on Friday a nuclear cooperation agreement, under which power plants, desalination stations, research facilities and personnel training centers will be built in the Mideast country

* A total of 11,168 people in 42 countries worldwide have been officially diagnosed with the A/H1N1 virus as of 06:00 GMT on Friday, with 86 deaths, the World Health Organization said in its daily report

* Moldova's Communist Party on Friday nominated the country's ambassador to Russia, Andrei Neguta, as its new presidential candidate, with a vote in parliament scheduled for May 28

RUSSIA

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev opened an EU-Russia summit on Friday in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, inviting participants to discuss the economic crisis, energy cooperation and European security

* Russia's Health Ministry said on Friday that the first case of human swine flu infection has been diagnosed in Moscow

* The lower house of Russia's parliament has adopted in its third reading a bill to give the upper house the right to directly appoint the head of the Constitutional Court, who will be nominated by the president

* New figures released on Friday showed Russian unemployment continued to rise in April, increasing by 200,000 to 7.7 million, with 2.3 million officially registered as out of work, the Federal Statistics Service said

* Russia reaffirmed on Friday it will not ratify the existing Energy Charter and called for a new energy agreement to ensure future global energy security

* Russia's president said on Friday the EU should consider giving Kiev a loan to ensure that natural gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine are uninterrupted

* A Soyuz-2 carrier rocket, which was launched early Friday from the Plesetsk space center in north Russia, has put an advanced Meridian 2 military satellite into orbit, an aide to the Russian Space Forces commander said

BUSINESS

* Ukraine's first deputy prime minister said Friday a new gas crisis between Ukraine and Russia was unlikely due to the stable financial state of the country's Naftogaz gas monopoly

* Gazprom and Slovenia have agreed on a deal extending Russian natural gas supplies for another 15 years, the Russian communications and media minister said

RELIGION

* The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke of the importance of meekness during a service on Friday in central Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral to commemorate St. Nicholas' Day

SPORT

* UEFA have launched disciplinary proceedings against Chelsea FC over disturbances at the end of their recent Champions League semifinal defeat to Barcelona