* Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II congratulated Orthodox Christians with Christmas Day
* A priest was killed and his church robbed on the eve of Russian Orthodox Christmas in the Sverdlovsk Region in Russia's Urals, the press office of the regional interior department said
* President of Russia Vladimir Putin appointed Alexander Losyukov, former ambassador to Japan, as a deputy foreign minister, the president's Web site said
* Israel's possible attack on Iranian nuclear facilities will not affect the will of Iran's people to continue peaceful nuclear activities, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said
* Six members of illegal armed formations surrendered in an amnesty bid in the Republic of Chechnya in Russia's North Caucasus, the local law-enforcement bodies said
* One diver from Russia has died and the search for two others continues in Egypt, the Russian consul in Cairo said
