WORLD
* The United States has abandoned plans to deploy a missile early warning center as part of a European missile defense system in the Czech Republic, Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra was quoted by CTK news agency as saying
* The European Commission is unhappy with Russia’s continued embargo on vegetable imports from the European Union after the origin of the highly virulent E.Coli infection that prompted the ban was identified, an EU spokeswoman said
* The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) opposes Western missile defense plans that could jeopardize international stability, the regional security group said in a declaration
* Kazakhstan’s parliament decided to abstain from joining the NATO-led international coalition in Afghanistan, a member of the lower house said
RUSSIA
* Jailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky will be sent to a prison in the north-west Russian Karelia region close to the border with Finland, a source in the Russian penal administration said
BUSINESS
*Finish beverage producer Saimaa Beverages Oy Ltd said it plans to invest 217 million euros in the development of its Russian subsidiary Organic Vodka Group by the end of 2013
* Russia’s largest private oil company LUKoil wants to carry out geological exploration in Iraq, the company said, following a meeting between its CEO Vagit Alekperov and Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Kareem Luaibi
* Russia’s union of grain producers is opposed to the Central Bank’s move to introduce grain export duties as a lever against inflation, the union’s president Pavel Skurikhin said
* Russian aluminum giant RusAl, one of the core shareholders in Norilsk Nickel, has withdrawn a lawsuit contesting the sale of a 7.2 percent stake in Norilsk to the nickel giant’s subsidiary Corbiere Holdings Ltd for $3.5 billion, a court official said