WORLD
* The results of Kazakhstan’s presidential elections on Sunday show that the country still lacks democracy and freedom of assembly and speech, observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said
* Japan has asked Russia to send a liquid radioactive waste disposal facility for its troubled Fukushima plant, Russia’s state-controlled nuclear corporation, Rosatom said
* U.S. President Barack Obama announced his campaign to win reelection in 2012, a statement on his official website said
* Egypt and Iran are in talks to reestablish diplomatic relations and start developing bilateral cooperation in all areas, an Egyptian newspaper said
* Japan may review its greenhouse gas emission reduction target in the wake of a nuclear crisis set off by last month’s massive earthquake and tsunami, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano was quoted by Japanese media as saying
RUSSIA
* Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin to work on cutting the payroll tax, saying the government must ease the fiscal burden on companies
* A lawyer for former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky dismissed reports that his client’s bank accounts in Ireland were frozen
BUSINESS
* Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has approved a $24 billion merger between major fertilizer producers Uralkali and Silvinit, currently frozen due to a court injunction, after Uralkali had fulfilled its competition requirements, Uralkali said in a statement
* Russian grocery store chain Magnit is considering holding a secondary public offering in fall 2011 to raise at least $500 million to finance its investment program, Kommersant business daily reported
* BP has asked the United States authorities for permission to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, The New York Times quoted sources in the oil company as saying