* Ukraine's Constitutional Court said it would consider the legality of the president's second decree to dissolve parliament and call early elections
* Russia's state-run oil pipeline operator Transneft said it planned to attract a loan worth at least 10 billion rubles ($386 million) to finance the construction of the ambitious East Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline
* Problems in Russia's relations with some EU countries should not affect interaction with the EU overall, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said ahead of the Russia-EU summit in Samara on the Volga May 17-18
* Talks on a new basic partnership agreement will not be up for discussion at the Russia-EU May 17-18 summit in Samara, Germany's foreign minister said
* Poland's Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said his country would keep its veto on a new Russia-EU partnership deal
* EU foreign policy and security chief, Javier Solana, praised parliamentary elections in Armenia saying they were held in line with international norms and regulations, while local opposition parties said the poll was undemocratic
* Three companies were selected to manage the funds of the planned Russian Venture Company, the economics minister said
* A senior railroad official was seriously wounded in a car-bomb explosion in the Republic of Daghestan, in Russia's troubled North Caucasus region, the local transportation police said
* Russia's anti-monopoly service said it approved Gazpom's bid for 28.9% of the generating company Mosenergo's additional issue of shares
* Ten people died when an explosion and resulting fire swept through a crowded cafe in the town of Orsk, in the Urals region of Orenburg, Sunday night, a spokesman for the local emergencies service said
* Rosinter Restaurants Holding, a leading restaurant operator in Russia and other former Soviet republics, announced plans to hold an initial public offering (IPO)
* Russian homosexual rights activists said some 2,000 people were expected to take part in a gay pride parade in St. Petersburg later this month despite authorities' opposition to events celebrating gay culture
* HydroOGK, Russia's largest hydropower operator, said it had signed an agreement with Morgan Stanley to raise a 7-year loan of 1.5 billion rubles (about $58 million) to finance its investment program
* One person was killed and one injured in a fire that broke out in a five-story office building in eastern Moscow, emergency services reported
* Kazakh Energy Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov said:
- Kazakhstan plans to boost gas output more than 50% by 2010
- Kazakhstan plans to allocate $1.25 million to finance a feasibility study for the construction of a nuclear power plant to replace the republic's old Soviet-designed nuclear facility
- Kazakhstan will soon start negotiations on joining a planned pipeline that will pump Russian oil to Europe via Bulgaria and Greece in order to increase Caspian oil exports to Europe
* Russia's state debt in 2008 will total 8.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and will be the lowest in the country's history, the finance minister said
* The Collective Security Treaty Organization is planning to create a large military contingent comprising units and formations of several Central Asian states, said the post-Soviet security alliance's chief Nikolai Bordyuzha
* At least two Palestinians were killed in clashes between Fatah and Hamas supporters in the Gaza Strip, despite a ceasefire agreement reached overnight
* Pavel Skitovich, a member of the Interros holding company board, was appointed chief executive officer of the Polyus Zoloto gold producer. Interros is one of Polyus Zoloto's principal shareholders
* A cruiser with 281 passengers onboard ran aground sustaining damage off the Alaska coast, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said
* Foreign ministers of 27 European Union nations extended sanctions against Uzbekistan, introduced over an allegedly violent suppression of an uprising in the country in 2005
