* Two police officers were killed and five others injured in a blast in the Sunzhenski district of Chechnya
* Russia's Federal Security Service said an Arab mercenary had been eliminated and a secret terrorist base destroyed in Chechnya
* A new political party, the Economic Reform Party, was registered in Tajikistan
* Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said in an interview on Russian State Television that he would like Russian-Japanese relations to develop towards greater prosperity
* Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin said his country would make all possible efforts to strengthen the influence of the Orthodox Church on its soil
* Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said several deferments would be abolished during the transition to a one-year draft
* Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova failed to advance to WTA Tour finals in Los Angeles
