Main news of May 12

RUSSIA

* A session of the UN General Assembly Tuesday elected Russia to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the second time and the United States for the first time

* Somali pirates can be prosecuted under Russian laws, a Russian deputy general prosecutor said

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin presented his book on judo and received an honorary doctorate from Tokyo University

* Russia's president has confirmed his intention to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in early June, voicing his confidence the forum will be a success

* A recent pipeline explosion in western Moscow was caused by poor welding work, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov said on Tuesday during a visit to Japan

* Moscow is awaiting Washington's proposals on control over the number of nuclear warheads stored by both countries, Russia's foreign minister said

* Five people have been killed in a fire that broke out in a church auxiliary building in the northern Urals, a police source said

WORLD

* Six people were killed and 28 injured on Tuesday when Taliban militants attacked two government buildings in the eastern Afghan province of Khost, the country's Interior Ministry said

* Belarus hopes that a joint Belarusian-Iranian project to develop an oil field in southern Iran will begin work in the near future, Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko said

* Russia and Japan signed an intergovernmental nuclear cooperation deal on Tuesday during Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Tokyo

* The United States has bought two Su-27 Flanker fighter jet to help train U.S. pilots to cope with the growing number of Russian 4th-generation aircraft sold around the globe, a U.S. online magazine said

* The World Health Organization has officially confirmed 5,251 cases of A/H1N1 influenza, commonly known as swine flu, with 61 deaths in 30 countries

* Suspected Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk arrived in Germany on Tuesday and faced an arrest warrant accused of being part in World War II killings of 29,000 prison inmates, media reports said

* Moldova's outgoing president, Vladimir Voronin, was elected parliamentary speaker

* Ukraine's interior minister, Yuriy Lutsenko, has asked parliament to approve his resignation after reports that German police detained him over a drunken brawl at Frankfurt airport last week

* Thailand and Cuba have joined the list of 30 countries that have reported cases of human A/H1N1 infection, local media said

BUSINESS

* Gazprom and a Greek gas company have agreed on setting up a consortium to build the South Stream gas pipeline section across Greece, a source close to the negotiations said

* Russia's largest truck maker KamAZ has resumed production, after a lack of orders led to a three-week halt, a spokesman for the truck producer said

SPORT

* International Olympic Committee officials arrived in Sochi on Tuesday on a two-day visit to assess progress in preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics, the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee said

* Four Russian women are through to the third round of the $4.5 million Madrid Open tennis tournament