WORLD
* Ukraine has made “significant” progress in reviewing its gas contracts with Russia, but no final agreements have been signed so far, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said
* Speaker Volodymyr Rybak opened the second session of Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada after more than two weeks of filibustering by opposition deputies, the Kyiv Post reported
* President Barack Obama announced Friday that around 100 US troops have been deployed in the West African nation of Niger in what officials said was the establishment of a new drone base there to spy on Islamist fighters in the Sahara and support French forces in the region
* Russia and Cuba will sign an agreement on the settlement of Cuba’s debt worth $30 billion by the end of the year, with part of the debt to be written off and part to be restructured, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said
* Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev met with Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro early on Friday as part of his official visit to Cuba and discussed various issues, including the recent meteorite strike in Russia’s Urals
RUSSIA
* The first fragment of the meteorite which spectacularly crashed to earth in central Russia last week was delivered to Moscow for analysis
* A series of random checks in the Russian Armed Forces this week revealed a number of systemic shortcomings, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov said
* The Russian Defense Ministry is interested in buying Russian-made Tigr (Tiger) armored vehicles, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said
* Police have conducted searches as part of an investigation into alleged fraud at a satellite communications company, the Interior Ministry’s Moscow branch said, but did not give further details