Main news of January 30

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

 

WORLD

 

* Libya and Russia have signed a 1.3-billion-euro ($1.8 billion) arms contract, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

 

* China suspended military contacts with the U.S. over its plans to sell $6.4 billion worth arms to Taiwan, Xinhua reported

 

* Turkey needs several nuclear power stations to cope with a growing shortage of electricity, the head of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce said

 

* Iran is building a 51-km railway linking its southwestern city of Khorramshahr and the southern Iraqi city of Basra, national media reported

 

* A former Georgian diplomat was sentenced to 20 years in prison for spying for Russia

 

* As France has moved closer to a ban on burqas, German politicians are debating whether a similar measure was necessary in their own country, national media reported

 

* Mafia killings accounted for one in five of all homicides in Italy in 2008, according to a recent study, a national news agency reported

 

RUSSIA

 

* Libya will buy 1.3-billion-euro ($1.8 billion) worth of arms from Russia under a new contract, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

 

* The Russian and Belarusian prime ministers agreed to hold the next meeting of the Union government in March

 

* Bilateral trade between Russia and Croatia fell 30% in 2009, year-on-year, to $2.16 billion, the Croatian National Statistics Bureau said on

 

* Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter crash in the Far East earlier this month was likely caused by pilot error, a source close to the investigation said

 

* Russia sent a tugboat to help a cargo vessel with a Russian crew drifting in the Sea of Japan, a rescue source said