Main news of May 30

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili congratulated his party on winning local elections as exit polls showed a strong performance by the United National Movement in Tbilisi

* The health of the 83-year-old mother of Polish President Lech Kaczynski deteriorated after she was told of her son's death in a plane crash in Russia last month, her doctor said

* A U.S. drone attack has killed at least 18 suspected militants in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border, local authorities said on Sunday

* Chinese authorities executed a man convicted of attacking 29 children and three teachers with a knife last month in east China's Jiangsu Province

* Tehran hopes that Russia will take a positive stance on the recent trilateral deal to swap Iran's low-enriched uranium in Turkey, the Fars news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying

RUSSIA

* Joint worship with Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew has strengthened the unity of Orthodox churches worldwide, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill said

* Russia welcomes a deal approved by a UN conference on nuclear non-proliferation and is prepared to implement it, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement

* Security services have arrested six people suspected of organizing and carrying out a recent terrorist attack in Stavropol in southern Russia that killed seven people, a police source said

BUSINESS

* Gazprom expects larger natural gas exports in 2010 compared with last year, an executive of the export arm of energy giant Gazprom said on Sunday

SPORTS

* Nadia Petrova beat Venus Williams at the French Open on Sunday to set up an all-Russian quarterfinal against Elena Dementieva.

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev paid a visit to the construction site where Zenit St. Petersburg are building a new 68,000-seat stadium