Main news of May 19

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours.

WORLD

* The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged with a criminal sexual assault and attempted rape, following allegations made by a maid at Sofitel New York hotel near Manhattan's Times Square.

* Belarus will get a loan of $3-3.5 billion from the Eurasian Economic Community anti-crisis fund on terms favorable for the ex-Soviet republic, Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich said.

* Latvian human rights ombudsman Juris Jansons came out in favor of a proposed tenfold increase in the fine for Latvian citizens who do not use Latvian language when carrying out official duties.

* A Warsaw appellate court upheld on Thursday a prison sentence to a Russian citizen convicted last year of spying for Moscow.

RUSSIA

* Sergei Mironov, who lost his position as speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament, said he will take a seat in the lower house until parliamentary elections in December.

* The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Israeli military attache Col. Vadim Leiderman was caught receiving secret information from a Russian national on May 12 and expelled from the country.

* Interpol's General Secretariat has officially put former Russian lawmaker Ashot Yegiazaryan on its wanted list over large-scale fraud charges, a spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee said.

* The Russian Defense Ministry has placed only 60 percent of the orders slated for 2011 under the state arms procurement program, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said.

BUSINESS

* Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has approved the planned sale of 7.58% of Sberbank's share capital by the Central Bank of Russia, thereby reducing its stake to 50% plus one share, the government announced.

* The preparations to sign the agreement on the Eurasian Economic Union must be completed by January 1, 2013, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

* Russia's flagship airline Aeroflot will receive six regional air companies from state-owned Russian Technologies hi-tech corporation in exchange for 3.61 percent of its stock in a deal finally agreed between the two companies, Kommersant business daily reported.