Main News of May 2

A roundup of what has happened during past 24 hours

WORLD

At least two explosions hit Kabul after U.S. President Barack Obama left the Afghan capital following a surprise visit to sign a partnership agreement with Hamid Karzai

Egypt's military is ready to hand over power to a new president after the first round of the vote on May 24, Egyptian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Sami Anan said

Berlin threatened on Wednesday to block a political and trade agreement between the European Union and Ukraine over the alleged maltreatment of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko

Chen Guangcheng, a blind Chinese dissident who fled house arrest and took refuge in the American Embassy in Beijing six days ago left it on Wednesday after receiving safety guarantees from the Chinese government, Xinhua reported

RUSSIA

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed legislation exempting political parties from the need to collect signatures to run in parliamentary elections and reducing the number of signatures needed for running in presidential elections

Six soldiers were killed and three injured in the Nizhny Novgorod region when ammunition they were unloading for destruction blew up, the Defense Ministry said

BUSINESS

Britain has refused to grant political asylum to Bank of Moscow's former head Andrei Borodin and his former deputy Dmitry Akulinin, a source familiar with the situation said

The Russian government has raised the gas extraction tax for Gazprom and lowered tax increases for the country’s independent gas firms for 2013-2015, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov said

SPORTS

There is no prospect of moving any Euro 2012 matches out of Ukraine due to appease governments concerned at the country's treatment of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a tournament organizer was reported as saying