Main news of November 13

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama are still at odds on a U.S. marine base on Okinawa

* Chinese President Hu Jintao urged free trade and investment liberalization, and also urged Asian Pacific business and political leaders to oppose protectionism

* President Barack Obama has renewed U.S. economic sanctions against Iran for another year, the White House has said

* The death toll from a suicide bomb attack in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday has risen to 10, with over 30 injured, national media reported

* At least 36 people have died in north China during heavy snow, China's Sina news service reported

* Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed a decree to abolish the National Guard, established by his predecessor Askar Akayev to provide security for state leaders, the Kyrgyz 24.kg news agency said

* Belarus has handed over to Russian energy giant Gazprom a package of proposals concerning reduction of gas prices for 2010, the Belarusian prime minister said

* Ukrainian presidential candidate and former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych has said the issue of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, based in Ukraine's Crimea, should not be politicized

RUSSIA

* Two firefighters died and seven soldiers were injured during blasts at a Russian military depot in the city of Ulyanovsk in the Volga Region, the Defense Ministry said

* Russia intends to complete all talks on its accession to the World Trade Organization in 2010, the Russian president said

* Some 20 militants were killed in a special operation on Friday, the president of the volatile North Caucasus republic of Chechnya said

* The hearing on the case of former Russian oil giant Yukos that demands $98 billion from Russia in the European Court of Human Rights has been postponed until January 14, the court said

* Russia has called on the European Union to take measures, including financial, to prevent problems arising in Russian natural gas transit via Ukraine to Europe, Moscow's EU envoy said

* A powerful explosion hit a gas distribution facility in southern Russia's Stavropol Territory on Friday, a local emergencies spokesman said

BUSINESS

* Tajikistan presented on Friday 10 business projects to China, worth a total of $3 billion, a government official said

SPORT

* The decision of The Court of Arbitration for Sport to uphold bans on biathletes Albina Akhatova and Yekaterina Iourieva is a blow to Russia's Winter Olympics hopes, a top sports official said

CULTURE

* The 9th annual Russian film week will open in New York on Friday