* The new coalition in the Supreme Rada nominated Viktor Yanukovych, leader of the Party of Regions, as Ukraine's prime minister
* Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov said Russia expected Iraq to move quickly to find the bodies of its diplomats murdered in the country in June, so that they can be returned home and buried
* Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov said the upper chamber's resolution giving the Russian president the right to use the armed forces and secret services abroad to fight terrorism is in line with international and Russian law
* Chief of the General Staff Yury Baluyevsky said ballistic missiles test-fired by North Korea earlier this week fell into the Pacific Ocean far away from the Russian coast
* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he may dissolve the country's parliament if deputies fail to form a government by the July 22 deadline
* Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso has asked his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to support a UN Security Council resolution condemning North Korea's missile launches, the Japanese Embassy in Moscow said
* Russia's Foreign Ministry said early release of an Israeli hostage kept in Palestinian territories would pave the way for stability in the Middle East
* Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said the country's Air Force would buy 58 Su-34 Fullback fighter-bombers by 2015
* Gazprom said its net profit calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards had risen 49.2% year-on-year to $11.7 billion
* Leader of the Socialist Party Oleksandr Moroz, elected Ukraine's new parliamentary speaker, said he would seek to heal the rift in parliament and society that emerged after the inconclusive March 26 elections plunged the country into a political crisis
* Georgia's Deputy Defense Minister Mamuka Kudava said his country would ratify the Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty only after Russia closes all its military bases in the country
* The European Union expects Tehran to respond to Iran 6 incentives on the country's nuclear program by July 11, the EU foreign policy chief's press office said
