* The leaders of Russia and Kazakhstan held an official meeting in the Kazakh capital, Astana
* Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said trade between Russia and Kazakhstan was up 35% year-on-year to reach more than $10 billion in 2005
* Prosecutors in Moscow said 956 murders were committed in the capital in 2005
* A spokesman for a Jewish organization said two of the eight people hurt in a Wednesday night attack on a synagogue in central Moscow were in a serious but stable condition in hospital
* The Russian Emergency Situations said more than 700,000 birds had been lost in Russia since the first outbreak of avian flu was recorded in the summer
