WORLD
*An appointment of U.S. President Barack Obama’s top adviser, Michael McFaul a new U.S. ambassador to Russia may help to get rid of mistrust between the United States and Russia, the head of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Analysis, Alexander Konovalov told RIA Novosti.
*Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will attend the ceremony to bid his last farewell to Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh who has died after a surgery at a Moscow clinic on Sunday, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
*U.S. President Barack Obama is planning to appoint Michael McFaul, a top national security aide at the White House, an ambassador to Russia, New York Times said
*An anchor of satellite TV channel RT America’s political show Adam VS The Man, Adam Kokesh was arrested on Saturday during the silent dancing flashmob at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, RT said in a statement
*A former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic who is facing trial on war crimes and genocide charges, will be extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague on Monday or Tuesday, French TF1 TV channel cited a tribunal’s judge, Mehmet Guney as saying
*Libya’s strongman Muammar Gaddafi is ready to relinquish power on condition that he and his family are given guarantees of immunity from prosecution, the Arab newspaper Al Sharq Al Awsat reported
*A NATO air strike has killed 16 and wounded another six civilians in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, an employee of the provincial governor’s press service who preferred to stay anonymous told RIA Novosti
*Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh who has died after a surgery at a Moscow clinic will be buried in his native village in Abkhazia, a source in the Abkhaz presidential administration said
*Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has restored the cooling system of the nuclear reactor and fuel pool at the No. 5 unit of Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, the plant operator said
*Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh died in Moscow following a lung surgery, a source in the Abkhaz presidential administration said
*Mohamed Bin Hammam withdrew his candidacy from next week’s FIFA presidential election, hours before facing an inquiry into allegations that he bribed officials to win votes
*Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is heading to Egypt to discuss his plan to seek international recognition of an independent Palestinian state with the Egyptian leadership
*A suicide bomber has seriously injured a senior NATO commander in an attack on a heavily guarded compound in northern Afghanistan that also killed the local police chief and several NATO soldiers and Afghan officials
*The nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) will stage a mass demonstration in Belgrade to protest against the arrest of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic who is facing trial on war crimes and genocide charges
*Pressure must be applied to the Belarusian authorities to put an end to political repression of the country’s opposition, U.S. President Barack Obama said during his visit to Poland
RUSSIA
*Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has expressed his condolences over the death of Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh, the Kremlin press office said
*Radiation levels remain within the norm in all districts of Russia’s Far East, a spokesman for the regional emergencies ministry said