WORLD
* Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg expressed concern over attacks on journalists in Russia
* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin dismissed reports that Russia and Ukraine agreed to discuss and possibly review the gas pricing formula
* France and Russia agreed that the Mistral-class helicopter carriers France will build for Russia will be fully equipped with the communication and control systems
* Monday’s terrorist attack that tore through a crowded subway station in the Belarusian capital of Minsk has been solved, the country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, said
* At least ten people were killed in a suicide attack on a meeting of tribal elders in eastern Afghanistan, local officials said
* The Egyptian authorities have ordered the detention of the country’s former president, Hosni Mubarak, amid an investigation into alleged corruption and abuse of office charges
* Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, arrived in China for a four-day visit that will see him attend a BRIC summit and push for Russia’s economic integration into the Asia Pacific region
RUSSIA
* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he and President Dmitry Medvedev do not exclude the possibility of joining the presidential race in 2012
* Russia’s premier addressed healthcare problems
SCIENCE
* An interplanetary spacecraft for a flight to Mars will be created no earlier than 2025, and the maiden flight to the red planet is possible only after 2035, Russian space agency Roscosmos chief Anatoly Perminov said
BUSINESS
* A Russian arbitration court has removed the last obstacle to a $24 billion merger between fertilizer producers Uralkali and Silvinit to create the world’s second largest potash maker
* Ukraine’s government released on its website a list of 11 state energy firms it plans to sell this year to boost its crippled economy