Main news of May 18

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* The U.S., Russia and China have agreed on a new United Nations Security Council resolution on Iran, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said

* The Ukrainian parliament has permitted NATO troops to participate in drills in the former Soviet republic in 2010

* Supporters of Kyrgyzstan's ousted president are preparing to provoke a new round of unrest in the Central Asian state, the interim government's deputy head Azimbek Beknazarov said

 

RUSSIA

 

* Top Russian and U.S. diplomats expressed their desire to complete the ratification of a new arms reduction treaty as soon as possible

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has been informed about Mikhail Khodorkovsky's hunger strike, a Kremlin spokesperson said

* Mikhail Khodorkovsky has gone on hunger strike in protest against the latest court ruling against him that he says violates Russian law, the defense team for the former Yukos CEO said 

* A series of modernization projects, approved by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, will cost Russia 800 billion rubles ($26 billion), a Russian business daily said

* The head of Russia's special investigations committee ordered criminal charges to be filed against the director of a west Siberian coalmine where an accident killed at least 66 miners

* A Moscow court has ruled that Russian air traffic controllers cannot go on strike, Russia's air transport agency Rosaviatsiya said

 

BUSINESS

 

* The price of Russian natural gas exports could be reduced by cutting mediator fees and taxes by consumer countries, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said

* The list of companies licensed to develop the Russian sea shelf will be expanded, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said

* Hyundai-Kia is planning to raise its car production in Russia to 500,000 units a year, as well as set up the manufacturing of engines and transmission lines, a motor industry expert said