* Two former militants have surrendered to law-enforcement bodies in the past twenty-four hours in an amnesty bid in the Republic of Chechnya in Russia's North Caucasus, the local interior ministry said
* Iran said the UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon was not balanced
* Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the Islamic Republic had lost confidence in Europe's intentions to settle its nuclear problem peacefully
* President Vladimir Putin congratulated Cuban leader Fidel Castro with his 80th anniversary and wished him the quickest recovery from surgery, the presidential press office said
* One person was killed and eleven others wounded in a trolley-bus explosion in the capital of Moldova's breakaway province of Transdnestr, the press secretary of the republic's interior ministry said
* Russian women won gold medals in a 4x100m relay at the 19th European Athletics Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden
