* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych had agreed to hold early parliamentary elections, raising hopes for an end to a protracted political crisis gripping the ex-Soviet nation
* The European Commission trade spokesman denied media reports that the EU intends to block Russia's admission to the international trade body over a conflict with Estonia
* The European Union has no intention of postponing the Russia-EU summit due in Samara May 17-18 over worsening relations between Russia and Estonia, the European Commission chief spokesman said
* An international security conference on Iraq ended in Egypt with a joint statement urging that the country's unity be preserved and its sovereignty defended, but setting no deadline for the pullout of foreign troops
* U.S.-Russia missile defense talks will start as expected in September, Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia Daniel Fried said
* At least 20 people died and 58 are missing after a sailboat packed with Haitian migrants capsized to the southeast of the Bermuda Islands, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard Service said
* The U.S. Senate adopted a resolution by a simple majority supporting Estonia and denouncing attacks against its embassies in Russia and elsewhere
* Russia's Foreign Ministry denied reports of a physical attack on Estonia's ambassador in Moscow
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:
- it is too early to withdraw foreign troops from Iraq
- Russia is not linking Iraq's debt relief to any conditions, but the decisions of the Paris Club
- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will arrive in Moscow on an official visit in mid-May
* A Moscow court fined two youth movement activists 500 rubles ($19) each for obstructing an Estonian Embassy car and throwing a stone at the vehicle
* Russia's electricity monopoly RAO UES said Friday its net profit fell 80% in the first three months of the current year, to 2.85 billion rubles ($110 million), year-on-year
* President Vladimir Putin said Russia was ready to help Slovakia in modernizing its nuclear power facilities
* Georgia denied being involved in any talks or discussions on basing elements of a U.S. missile shield system on its soil
* The Estonian Embassy's consular service in Moscow resumed work following an end to a siege of the building by protestors, an embassy officer said
* The fourth military convoy left a Russian military base in Georgia as part of a 2006 deal on the withdrawal of Russian military bases from the South Caucasus country
* Russia's upper house, the Federation Council:
- voted unanimously to retain a Red Army banner for ceremonies like Victory parades
- passed a federal law to set up a state corporation on the basis of Vnesheconombank
