* The Ukrainian parliament approved President Viktor Yushchenko's nominee, Yury Yekhanurov, as prime minister

* Moscow court reduced Khodorkovsky and Lebedev's prison sentences to eight years

* Russia said it was ready to help build North Korean nuclear power plant

* Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said using all revenues from oil exports would boost inflation

* Russia demanded that Latvian authorities extradite oligarch Boris Berezovsky who arrived in Riga

* Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin opposed restricting oil exports and said Russia should take advantage of high world oil prices

* A Kyrgyz member of parliament was shot dead in Bishkek, the second MP to be assassinated in three months

* A Siberian serial killer was sentenced to 25 years in prison