Main news of November 19

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Ukraine will fulfill its obligations on the transit of Russian natural gas to Europe, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said after talks with her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin

* EU leaders chose on Thursday Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy to be the first president of the European Union and Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton as new EU foreign policy chief, diplomats said

* A message on gas transit posted on Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's website contains elements of political blackmail, a Russian presidential aide said

* Hundreds of thousands of people came to bid farewell to Serbia's Patriarch Pavle as the country's Orthodox Church leader was buried in a Belgrade suburb

* Peru's opposition party has submitted a proposal to the Peruvian Congress to recognize the former Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent, the party leader has said

* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has asked Russia to amend the existing natural gas supply contract as soon as possible, to avoid problems with gas transit to Europe

* The Israeli Air Force delivered an airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Thursday destroying two tunnels used for smuggling on the border with Egypt and an armory shop, the Israeli Defense Forces' press service said

* At least 16 people were killed and another 25 wounded in a bomb blast near a judicial complex in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday, Pakistan's News International reported

* The Atlantis shuttle, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, has successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS), NASA said on its website

RUSSIA

* Moscow supports the plan of action outlined by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in his inauguration speech, the Russian foreign minister said

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has arrived in Ukraine's Crimea ahead of talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called on Thursday for global measures to be taken to improve road safety

* Russia's Constitutional Court prolonged on Thursday a moratorium on the death penalty, which was due to expire on January 1, until it is banned completely

BUSINESS

* Maxim Barsky was appointed the chief executive of the Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP on Thursday, the TNK-BP board of directors said

SPORT

* Guus Hiddink's Russia lost 1-0 away to Slovenia on Wednesday evening and will miss out on the 2010 World Cup finals