Main news of May 1

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

RUSSIA

* Russia has celebrated a national holiday, Spring and Labor Day, with trade unions and political parties holding rallies across the country

* Russia doubts the statements by the NATO coalition that NATO airstrikes are not targeting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said

* The Russian national ice hockey team has defeated Slovenia 6-4 in its second match at the World Ice Hockey Championship on Bratislava's Orange Arena

 

WORLD

* Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's youngest son, Saif al-Arab, and three of Gaddafi's grandchildren were reported to have been killed by a NATO airstrike

* The British authorities have made a decision to expel the Libyan ambassador to London following an attack on the British embassy in Tripoli by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi

* Pope John Paul II has been beatified before 1.5 million faithful on St. Peter's Square in Vatican, moving one step closer to Roman Catholic sainthood

* The final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, scheduled for Monday, has been postponed again

* A Singapore tanker with a 25-member crew has been seized by suspected pirates off the east coast of Africa

* The death toll from a recent quake and tsunami in Japan has reached 14,704, with 10,969 people still missing

* A fire in a hotel in north-east China has killed ten and injured another 35 people