* The Russian ultra-nationalist LDPR party has protested Saddam Hussein's execution, staging a rally outside the Iraqi Embassy in central Moscow, law enforcement agencies said
* The Kyrgyz parliament has passed a new Constitution expanding presidential powers, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported
* With the deadline fast approaching, Belarus's chief negotiator for talks with Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] has not arrived in Moscow yet, a spokesman for Russia's natural gas giant said
* Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] does not expect progress at gas talks with Belarus until a high-level Belarusian official comes to Moscow, a spokesman for the Russian energy giant said
* Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkmenistan's Acting President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov are upbeat on prospects for bilateral cooperation, the Kremlin press service said
* Construction of a new nuclear power plant with a total capacity of 2,136 mW will start in central Russia next year, local authorities said
* The Russian president has signed a law setting up four gambling zones in the country, the Kremlin press service said
