* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree to make the country's Interior Ministry troops directly subordinate to him, removing them from the ministry's jurisdiction
* Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych
- ruled out the use of force by pro-government factions in tackling a protracted political conflict with the pro-presidential forces
- said President Viktor Yushchenko's decision to take control of Interior Ministry troops interfered with executive authorities' activities and was therefore unconstitutional
* A source in Russia's nuclear agency said:
- Iran had failed to finance the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in the south of the country and the project had become unprofitable for Russia
- the head of Russia's nuclear equipment export monopoly could cancel his visit to Iran in late May due to a lack of Iranian funding for the Bushehr NPP
* Tehran plans to become a nuclear fuel exporter, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said
* Moscow considers that U.S. plans to deploy elements of its missile shield in Central Europe, particularly Poland, should be discussed in a multilateral format, a source in the Foreign Ministry said
* The State Duma, Russia's lower house, adopted the country's first three-year draft budget for 2008-2010 and a wide-ranging smoking ban in the first reading
* The U.S. House and Senate voted to grant President Bush's request for nearly $100 billion in war spending for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through September, but no timetable for the withdrawal of troops was set, as Democrats had sought
* North Korea launched several short-range missiles towards the Sea of Japan, Japan's Kyodo news agency said, citing U.S. spy satellite photos obtained by sources "close to Japan-U.S. relations"
* A fire at Moscow's Ostankino TV tower, Europe's tallest structure, has been extinguished, a spokesman for the capital's emergencies service said
* Russia will not participate in joint lunar exploration with NASA, but will assist the U.S. with its shuttle program until 2015, a spokesman for the Russian space agency said
* Evraz Group reached an agreement to buy the other 50% in Yuzhkuzbassugol, the owner of a Kemerovo Region mine where an explosion claimed 38 lives Thursday, a spokesman for the steel and mining group said
* Leading Russian steelmaker Severstal said it had agreed to buy a 25% stake in Severgal from Arcelor Mittal, the world's leading steel company
* The heads of Russia's largest oil companies, LUKoil and Gazprom Neft, signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a joint venture, LUKoil said in a statement
* Transmashholding, a Russian transportation mechanical engineering giant, and the transnational concern Bombardier Transportation, a global rail equipment producer, agreed to set up two joint ventures in Russia
* British prosecutors said they had filed an extradition request with the Home Office, to be sent to Russia, for former FSB guard Andrei Lugovoi accused of murdering ex-spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko
