WORLD
* Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi pledged not to surrender despite deadly NATO air raids on his compound in Tripoli and other military targets
* Russia can develop missile systems capable of penetrating any missile defense deployed by NATO, Russia’s envoy to the alliance Dmitry Rogozin said
* Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh suffered burns on 40 percent of his body and a collapsed lung after being injured in an attack on his presidential palace in the capital, Sanaa, CNN reported citing U.S. government officials
* Saudi Arabia has introduced a ban on vegetable imports from the European Union over E. coli bacteria fears until the source of infection is identified, Al-Jazeera said
RUSSIA
* Former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky has reissued an appeal for release on parole that was returned to him earlier this week due to a lack of documentation, his lawyer said
* A court in central Russia reduced by two months the prison sentence handed to ex-Yukos executive Vladimir Pereverzin, despite his lawyers’ demands for a two year reduction
* Russia reported 234 wildfires burning in forests and peat bogs, covering an area three times the size of that for the same period last year
BUSINESS
* Russia’s largest high-tech company Sitronics cut its 2011 first quarter net loss by 49 percent year on year to $12.70 million to US GAAP, the company said
* The Moscow government intends to auction the hotel National, a historic landmark in the heart of Russia’s capital and one of its most famous hotels, the city’s government said
* British oil giant BP is considering selling part of its stake in the Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP to Russian energy company Rosneft to be able to work independently in Russia, The Financial Times said