* Serbian President Boris Tadic reiterated his tough stance on the country's independence-seeking province of Kosovo at talks in Belgrade with Sergei Shoigu, Russia's minister in charge of disaster relief, who repeated Moscow's calls for direct negotiations on the issue
* Recent events in Gaza caused a factional quarrel in the parliament of neighboring Egypt, with parties condemning the internationally-recognized Palestinian leadership, as well as its Islamist rivals
* The Atlantis space shuttle will not be able to use its first landing opportunity on Friday at 6.18 p.m. GMT due to bad weather over Cape Canaveral, Florida
* British oil major BP Plc's Russian venture, TNK-BP, will sell its controlling stake in a vast Siberian natural gas field to state-controlled energy giant Gazprom, the companies said
* Germany increased security measures as the country's interior minister warned of a direct threat of Islamist terrorist attacks in the country
* The first vice president of Russian space corporation Energia, Alexander Strekalov, will fulfill the duties of the corporation's president, who has been suspended, the board chairman said
* A senior Russian lawmaker said Moscow plans to boycott a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to be held in Kiev in July
* Russian President Vladimir Putin formally submitted Yury Luzhkov's candidacy for the post of mayor to the Moscow legislature
* The prime ministers of Russia and Ukraine, Mikhail Fradkov and Viktor Yanukovych, signed a program for economic cooperation until 2010
* North Korea is prepared to resume six-party talks on its nuclear program in early July, a top South Korean negotiator at the talks said
* U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said he was satisfied with his visit to Pyongyang, designed to advance denuclearization talks with North Korea, China's Xinghua agency reported
* The first day of a European Union summit, which opened in Brussels, showed no signs of progress in breaking a deadlock on a new treaty setting out new rules to govern the EU
* Pakistan's parliament demanded an official apology from Britain for giving a knighthood to Indian-born author Salman Rushdie, considered by Muslims to be a blasphemer
* Russia will not sign new contracts for the reprocessing of foreign uranium tailings until more safe methods are found, the head of nuclear watchdog Sergei Kiriyenko said during a visit to a uranium enrichment center in Siberia
* Japan's Prince Tomohito, 61, has been diagnosed with alcohol addiction and will undergo a course of treatment at a special treatment center, the country's Royal secretariat said
* A Russian tourist from Primoriye was found murdered in a park in China, a police source in the Russian Far Eastern region said
* Seventy-two organizations financing terrorist activities were closed down in Russia in 2006, and 546 militants have surrendered since an amnesty started in the North Caucasus last July, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service said
