* Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said the media could "forget the term Cold War" if the U.S. agreed to Russia's latest missile defense proposal to use a base in its southern territories instead of Central Europe
* The lower house of Russia's parliament passed a law on establishing a national nanotechnology corporation, and adopted amendments permitting security officers of two energy firms, Gazprom and Transneft, to carry firearms
* A pilot died and a crewman was injured in a crash of a Mi-8 helicopter registered with the Russian border troops in the Pskov Region, northwestern Russia, a local emergencies spokesperson said
* Russia's nuclear agency said that nuclear fuel Moscow had pledged to supply to a power plant built in Iran would definitely be returned to Russia and would not end up in the wrong hands
* Eleven people were killed when a suicide car bomber smashed a vehicle packed with explosives into an army convoy in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border, local media reported
* Sergei Ignatyev, head of the Russian Central Bank, said:
- Net capital inflow into Russia hit $67 billion in January-June 2007 against $14 billion in the same period last year
- Russia's consumer prices grew 5.7% in January-June and 1% in June, with the Central Bank annual inflation forecast being under 8%
- Russia's money supply rose 19% since the start of the year and 17.3% year-on-year
* The international rating agency Moody's said it had upgraded its Issuer rating of Russia's state-controlled crude producer Rosneft from Baa2 to Baa1
* The Israeli government said it welcomed the release of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston from 114-day captivity by a radical Islamic group in Gaza, and demanded that Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit abducted more than a year ago be freed as well
* The State Duma, Russia's lower house, approved an agreement on the separation of powers between the federal government and the largely independent Republic of Tatarstan on the Volga
* Dmitry Medoyev, the envoy of the unrecognized Georgian republic of South Ossetia in Moscow, said Tbilisi might use military force to resolve the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict
* Russia's food safety watchdog said it was ready to help Egypt fight the spread of a deadly bird flu virus, including supplying the country with a vaccine developed in Russia
* Japan's first-ever female Defense Minister Yuriko Koike was sworn into office, vowing to restore trust in the government following the resignation of her predecessor over his controversial comments regarding the WWII atomic bombing of Japan
* At least 12 people were killed in clashes between radical Islamic students and police in Islamabad, local media reported
* South Korea will begin delivering fuel oil to North Korea next week now that Pyongyang has pledged to shut down its nuclear reactor, the Unification Ministry said
* A record 6.8 million metric tons (49.8 million barrels) of crude were produced on Sakhalin Island in Russia's Far East in the first half of 2007, the regional administration said
* Russia's chief rabbi Berl Lazar denounced claims that Soviet soldiers who drove the Nazis from Estonia during WWII were occupants, as the remains of a Red Army nurse killed near Tallinn were reburied in Jerusalem
