* Shareholders of the consortium for the construction of the North European Gas Pipeline have agreed on the appointment of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to head the committee of shareholders
* Gazprom said it had set up a headquarters to ensure uninterrupted natural gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine
* Russia and Thailand signed an agreement on visa-free travel
* The Lithuanian Economic Minister said the government had set a December 25th deadline for bids for a stake in the Mazeikiu Nafta oil complex
* A well-known Polish TV journalist was denied entry into Belarus
* Two Chechens living in Spain were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the killing of famous Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh
* The European Commission said it had allocated 6 million euros for humanitarian aid to the troubled Russian republic of Chechnya
* The Voronezh health department said 140 out of the 208 recipients of albumin injections produced from HIV-infected blood in central Russia had tested negative for the virus
* Russia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations adopted a declaration and an action plan for 2005-2015 at their first summit in Kuala Lumpur
* The Uzbek Foreign Ministry refused to extend the accreditation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
* Russian Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said an inter-ministerial commission on protectionist measures had decided to cancel export duties on liquefied natural gas
