NEWS
* Moscow urged the Afghan authorities and the international military coalition to protect the UN mission in Afghanistan after eight UN staffers died when a mob attacked one of its offices in the north of the country
* The European Council approved the decision to mount an EU military operation to support humanitarian efforts in Libya, if asked to do so by the United Nations
* The International Court of Justice on Friday refused to consider a case filed by Georgia accusing Russia of ethnic cleansing in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
* The confirmed death toll in Japan’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami grew to 11,734, the NHK TV channel said
* The Japanese authorities say 1,000 dead bodies scattered around Japan’s troubled Fukushima power plant are too radioactive for emergency workers to collect
BUSINESS
* Russian air traffic controllers have threatened further action over a union leader’s sacking after picketing the building of Russia’s air transport agency Rosaviatsia on Friday.
* Alexander Voloshin, who was voted out as chairman of the world’s top nickel producer, Norilsk Nickel, at last summer’s annual shareholders’ meeting, was reelected to the post, the firm said