* Police seized more than 8 kilograms of heroin in a special operation in Moscow's north-east, the local law-enforcement bodies said
* Abu Hafs, the last close aide to the late warlord Khattab, was killed in a special security force operation in Dagestan in Russia's North Caucasus, the local security service said
* Russia's Federal Security Service confirmed the elimination of Abu Hafs, Al Qaeda's main contact in the North Caucasus, the head and financier of terrorists in Russia's south
* The elimination of Arab mercenary Abu Hafs will affect considerably the activity of illegal armed formations and improve the situation in the troubled North Caucasus region, Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov said
* Moscow welcomes an agreement reached between Israel and Palestine on ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its Web site
* Five people were burnt to death in a fire that broke out in a private home in the city of Ivanovo in central Russia, the Emergency Situations Ministry said
* Suleiman Kerimov, a member of the lower house of Russia's parliament, was severely injured in a car accident in France, a local radio station said, referring to sources in law-enforcement agencies
* The condition of Suleiman Kerimov, a member of Russia's parliament, who suffered in a car accident in France, is stable, the Russian general consulate in Marseilles said
