* Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed adding ruble transactions to the international system of payments to reduce negative effects of dollar and euro fluctuations
* U.S. President George W. Bush said in Albania:
- it was time to grant Kosovo independence pursued by the Balkan region's Albanian majority
- Russia's proposal to use the radar it rents in Azerbaijan together was logical and important
* Russia hopes to complete bilateral talks on its accession to the WTO with Guatemala, Vietnam and Cambodia this summer, Russia's deputy economics minister, Maxim Medvedkov, said
* An explosion near a clothing store in Istanbul injured 14 people, police reported
* A major economic forum in Russia's second city, St. Petersburg, June 8-10 brought deals worth a total of $13.5 billion, German Gref, the economics minister, said
* Russia's economics ministry and France's Peugeot Citroen signed a deal to establish a car assembly, a project to require over 250 million euros in investment, German Gref said
* Natural gas produced as part of the Sakhalin I project off Russia's Pacific coast will be processed domestically, not in China, but Russia will honor its commitment on supplies to the Asian nation, a Gazprom official said
* The first round of parliamentary elections was held in France a month after a presidential vote
* Kazakhstan's president proposed setting up a forum to coordinate policies of the European Union and the post-Soviet CIS
