WORLD
* At least 20 people were killed and scores injured in Syria as army and police opened fire on anti-government protesters, activists said
* Ukraine plans to develop good relations with Russia, but sees its future in Europe, President Viktor Yanukovych wrote
* Russia does not support calls by the U.S. and EU member states for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s resignation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said
* Belarus suspended a joint program for exchange of highly enriched nuclear fuel with the U.S. in response to additional economic sanctions imposed by Washington
* At least 50 people were killed and over 100 injured when a bomb went off in a mosque in northwest Pakistan, Pakistani media reported
* Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko who has been held in jail while on trial for exceeding her authority in signing gas deals with Russia in 2009, has not been allowed to consult her doctor, the Ukrainian premier’s spokeswoman, Marina Soroka, said
* The United States is in danger of collapsing because of mismanagement, one of America’s former leading diplomats said
* No damage was reported at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake jolted northeast Japan
RUSSIA
* A court in central Russia ruled that a painting of the Sermon on the Mount that features Mickey Mouse instead of Jesus Christ is extremis
* The Russian Express-AM4 communication satellite, missing after Thursday’s launch, could not separate from the booster and was found off the designated orbit, a space program source said
* Tourists at Russia’s Far Eastern Marine Reserve near Telyakovsky Bay have been warned about the danger of sharks after shark attacks on swimmers this week