WORLD
*The Palestinians have yet to decide how to go ahead with a bid to achieve statehood at a UN vote, the Palestinian envoy to the UN said
*Libyan provisional government troops entered the city of Sirte, the hometown of Muammar Gaddafi, a National Transitional Council (NTC) military official said
*The United States will deploy elements of a missile defense shield in Poland by 2018, the U.S. and Poland said in a joint statement
*The trial of Anders Breivik, who has admitted to killing 77 people in Norway during twin attacks, will be held behind closed doors, court officials said
*The United Kingdom and France agreed to continue NATO’s military operation in Libya under a request from the country’s National Transition Council, the council’s chairman and head of international affairs Mahmoud Jibril said
*Ukraine is not considering the deployment of a European missile shield on its territory, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Konstantin Grishchenko said
*French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived Libya on Thursday, Sky News said citing sources in Downing Street
*Japanese Weathernews will launch a satellite in September 2012 that will provide navigational services to ships travelling along the Russian and North American coasts in the Arctic Ocean, the newspaper Nikkei reported
*U.S. President Barack Obama introduced to the Senate for approval several candidacies for key administration posts, including the candidacy of Michael McFaul for the post of the U.S. ambassador to Russia
RUSSIA
*Russia’s energy giant Gazprom discussed the construction of a pipeline to the Korean Peninsula with officials from North and South Korea
*Russian boxer Nikolai Valuev, the tallest and heaviest ever WBA heavyweight world champion, is leading an expedition to explore Yeti sightings in West Siberia
*Moscow will continue to press for the release of Eduard Bagirov, a Russian activist, blogger and writer detained in Moldova in June on charges of instigating riots, a foreign ministry spokesman said
*Russia is doing its best to secure the release of Russian and Ukrainian citizens detained in Libya for possible support of Gaddafi loyalists, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said
*A splinter group created by Russian metals tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov has announced it will not take part in parliamentary elections in December
*Opponents of Mikhail Prokhorov, leader of the split Right Cause party, voted on Thursday to oust him as the party leader following a disputed party congress
*Russian and German defense ministers will meet on Thursday in Moscow to discuss issues of military cooperation as well as the controversial issue of the European missile shield, the Russian Defense Ministry said