* Transneft is waiting for Belarus to confirm it is prepared for the resumption of Russian oil transit to Europe via its pipelines, said the head of the Russian pipeline monopoly, Semyon Vainshtok
* Talks between Russia and Belarus, expected to focus on an oil dispute between the ex-Soviet neighbors, have started at the Russian economics ministry, the ministry's press service said
* After the Druzhba pipeline resumes operations, the first oil delivery to European consumers will be the 79,000 metric tons Russia says Belarus has tapped illegally, after which transit via the pipeline will be resumed in full, a Russian government source said
* Kazakhstan's parliament unanimously approved Karim Masimov as the Central Asian country's new prime minister
* Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev nominated Danial Akhmetov, who resigned as prime minister Monday, to the post of defense minister
* Evraz Group has extended its offer to purchase shares in U.S.-based Oregon Steel Mills until January 12, the Russian metals giant said
* Azerbaijan's foreign minister will participate in the next round of negotiations on the breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh in Moscow on January 23 with the Armenian foreign minister, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said
* Members of Russia's lower house of parliament passed an appeal to their new colleagues in the U.S. Congress, urging them to ratify key international treaties, including the Kyoto Protocol, and to cease to apply the Jackson-Vanik amendment to Russia
* St. Petersburg was flooded for the 302nd time in its history, the local emergencies service in Russia's second-largest city said
* Georgia's Western-leaning president, Mikheil Saakashvili, proposed drafting a new Constitution that would conform to European democratic standards
* Poor sonar conditions might have contributed to a collision between a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine and a Japanese tanker in the Arabian Sea, a Russian naval expert said
* A military court in southern Russia's Rostov-on-Don postponed until January 16 hearings in the case of two servicemen charged with murdering civilians in Chechnya three years ago
