- a meeting held by the Contact Group for Kosovo to which Russia was not invited was an attempt to sidestep the country's position on the region's future status
- the four international mediators in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will gather for their next meeting in Cairo on June 26-27
* Russia's proposal to the United States concerning the joint use of the Gabala radar in Azerbaijan is a constructive step forward, a spokesman for the White House said
* Russia's government press service said the country would grant over 21 million rubles ($0.8 mln) for the International Atomic Energy Agency's technical assistance and cooperation program
* The Stockholm Arbitration Court quashed a $1-bln lawsuit filed by a U.S. nuclear services company against Russian state-controlled nuclear fuel supplier Techsnabexport, an informed source reported
* Police in the town of Gmunden in northern Austria have arrested a Russian citizen suspected of involvement in military espionage, an Austrian newspaper said
* Shimon Peres, a former prime minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was elected president of Israel
* At least 12 people were killed and 50 wounded when Hamas militants blew up the headquarters of supporters of the pro-presidential Fatah movement in southern Gaza, local radio said
* Lebanese lawmaker Walid Eido, his elder son, two bodyguards and two passersby were killed in a powerful explosion that rocked northwest Beirut
* United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has launched talks with Palestinian leaders on possible UN intervention in ongoing factional violence, his spokesman said
* The Russian government lifted customs duties on the import of high-tech equipment, the government press service said
* Russia is preparing to help North Korea transfer its previously-frozen $25 million from a Macao bank, to encourage the Communist state to honor its nuclear commitments, a Finance Ministry source said
* Poland is ready to continue negotiations on the issue of Russia's ban on Polish meat imports, the Polish foreign minister said
* Sudan rejected the idea of holding an international conference on the situation surrounding the western province of Darfur, the SUNA national news agency said citing the Sudanese Foreign Ministry
* Ehud Barak, a former Israeli premier, was reelected leader of the Labor Party, marking his return to the forefront of politics after losing the 2001 elections to Ariel Sharon, who is currently in a coma
* Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his country did not intend to interfere in the internal Palestinian conflict, but urged the West to think about deploying a multinational peacekeeping force in Gaza
* North Korea withdrew a portion of the $25 million frozen in accounts at the Macao-based Banco Delta Asia, the Asahi daily said
* The European Union resumed talks with Serbia on closer partnership ties after a one-year suspension caused by Belgrade's refusal to arrest key war crimes suspects
* Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft plans to spend $1.2 billion on the construction of ships to develop oil fields off Russia's Far East coast, the company's CEO said
* The launch of a U.S. telecommunications satellite, DirecTV-10, on board a Russian Proton-M carrier rocket has been scheduled for July 7, a leading Russian space company said
* A NASA expert said dust could have caused a fire alarm to go off onboard the International Space Station's U.S. segment
* Oil-rich Kazakhstan expects to boost its foreign trade to $200 billion by 2015 from $62 billion in 2006, the republic's minister of industry and trade said
* More than 20 pounds of heroin was seized from a Tajik national outside Moscow, a narcotics police spokesman said
* A series of auctions featuring imperial and avant-garde art from Russia kicked off in London this week with Sotheby's holding its largest-ever Russian sale and Christie's setting a new price record for an individual lot
