* Samaraneftegaz, one of Yukos largest production units, will be sold at an auction scheduled for May 10, a leading Russian daily newspaper said
* Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has cancelled his address to participants of a meeting in central Kiev citing emergency talks that might help resolving the current political crisis in the country
* The Georgian foreign minister said regular flights between Georgia and Russia must be restored soon to signal the willingness of both countries to improve bilateral relations, the Novosti-Georgia news agency reported
* Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed a decree appointing officials to head seven state agencies under the government, bringing the process of forming a coalition government closer to completion
* The leader of Ukraine's Communist Party, which is part of the governing coalition in parliament, said that supporters of Viktor Yushchenko are attempting to convince the chair of the Constitutional Court to take the president's side in the current political crisis
* China strongly opposes the U.S. "ungrounded" criticism of the current situation with human rights in the country, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement
* An Iranian diplomat abducted in Baghdad in early February and released earlier this week claims he has been interrogated and tortured by the CIA agents, an Iran's news agency reported
