Main news of June 12

RUSSIA

* President Dmitry Medvedev marked Russia Day by bestowing Russian Federation State Awards on 12 people for their achievements in science and the arts

* Russia has to work now so that it is prepared in the fall to deal with a rise in cases of the H1N1 flu, chief doctor Gennady Onishchenko said

* Two militants and a policeman were killed in an operation to detain suspects in the killing of two police officers in Russia's North Caucasus, a spokesman for Daghestan's Interior Ministry said

* A senior police officer in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Daghestan was shot dead on a street in the capital, Makhachkala, a local Interior Ministry official said

WORLD

* The Iranian Election Commission has decided to keep polls open for an additional two hours on Friday due to the high turnout in presidential elections

* Defense ministers of the NATO 28 member states have agreed at their two-day meeting in Brussels to continue anti-piracy efforts off Somalia, the alliance's secretary general said

* Latvia is interested in the constructive development of cooperation with Russia, but does not plan to turn to Moscow for financial assistance, the Latvian economy minister said

* The parliament of Georgia unanimously passed decrees on the formal withdrawal of the former Soviet republic from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

* Another body has been recovered from a coal mine in eastern Ukraine where 11 miners are now confirmed to have died as result of an accident on Monday, a local official said

* A citizen of Russia has died after she was hit by a car in popular Turkish resort region of Antalya, the Russian consul general said

BUSINESS

* Kazakhstan has frozen WTO accession talks to pursue joint membership of the global trade body together with Russia and Belarus as part of their customs union, the Kazakh president said