Main news of May 5

RUSSIA

* Moscow said on Tuesday it would not send delegates to a planned Russia-NATO Council meeting over the expulsion by the military alliance of two diplomats based at its NATO mission in Brussels

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered on Tuesday the country's sports minister to ready Russia's proposal for the right to host the 2018 World Cup

* Former police chief Denis Yevsyukov, who killed three and wounded six in a south Moscow supermarket in late April, has been charged with murder and faces life in prison, investigators said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev welcomed on Tuesday the readiness of the new U.S. administration to take on board Moscow's objections to the deployment of a U.S. missile shield in Central Europe

* A public events center for the upcoming Eurovision-2009 Song Contest was opened in central Moscow

WORLD

* Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili assured the nation in a televised address that the situation in the country was under control following a mutiny at an army base outside the capital on Tuesday

* The European Parliament voted on Tuesday to ban the import and trade of all seal products within the European Union, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said on its website

* Armenia will not take part in upcoming NATO-led military exercises in Georgia, the Defense Ministry said

* The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that the global caseload of H1N1 swine flu cases has reached 1,124, with a death toll of 25

* An armored infantry battalion refused to obey orders at the Mukhrovani military base outside the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Tuesday amid reports of an alleged military coup plot, Georgia's defense minister said

* A suicide bomber rammed a car into a police checkpoint in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, killing at least seven people and injuring another 30, local media reported

* Israel is ready to resume peace talks with Palestinians without delay, the Israeli prime minister has said, outlining his "triple track" approach

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has postponed his Latin American tour scheduled for May 6, a Brazilian Foreign Ministry source said

* The presidents of Belarus and Moldova will not attend a EU summit designed to boost ties with ex-Soviet republics due in Prague on Thursday, Czech media reported

* In a late night session Greece's parliament narrowly voted against indicting a member of the ruling party over corruption claims that could have led to early elections in the country

* Around 130,000 people have been affected by flash floods in the northern Brazilian state of Maranhao, the country's Civil Defense service said