WORLD
* Two Czech diplomats were expelled from Ukraine on suspicion of spying, Ukraine’s security service said
* Denmark shocked the European Commission by closing its borders without waiting for recommendations from the EU interior ministers who met on May 12, the foreign ministers who met today, or the EU leaders who will meet on June 24
* Egypt’s authorities ordered the detention of Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, pending further investigation of corruption allegations, the Mena state news agency reported
* Belarusian state prosecutors demanded a 7-year jail term for a high-profile opposition leader charged with organizing mass protests against the re-election of veteran hardline President Alexander Lukashenko
* Russia will seek to persuade Iran to comply with the requirements of the international nuclear watchdog in pursuing its nuclear program, the Russian foreign minister said
* At least 39 people were injured in a petrol bomb attack on a bank in northwest China’s Gansu Province, state news agency Xinhua said
RUSSIA
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev continued to flex his muscles ahead of the 2012 presidential elections on Friday by criticizing corruption at the highest levels of Russian politics
* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev demanded that regional election commissions provide political parties with equal access to airtime in state media
* Police in south Moscow recovered a human arm from a pond, the latest in a series of recent gruesome discoveries across the Russian capital, a law enforcement source said
* Amnesty International criticized the Russian authorities for human rights abuses
BUSINESS
* Russia may raise export duties on raw materials for gasoline production, if a local fuel deficit persists, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said
* Russia’s largest independent gas producer Novatek saw first quarter IFRS net profits jump 69 percent to 18.853 billion rubles ($656.89 million) in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the same period last year, the firm said
SPORTS
* Russia added a new date to its jam packed sporting calendar after it won a bid to host the 2016 Ice Hockey World Championships
* Russia defeated Canada 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the Ice Hockey World Championships in Slovakia on Thursday