* Iran positively assessed progress in nuclear talks with Russia in Tehran and expressed hope that both parties would come to agreement during negotiations, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said
* Europe's "double standards" in nuclear research are unacceptable, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Sunday commenting on the European Union's statement condemning Iran's plans to resume nuclear research
* Russia's passenger jet bound from Siberia to the Philippines was denied entry into Mongolian air space and could pass Mongolian territory only after receiving the relevant permission
* The organizers of the June 2003 bomb attack on a military airfield in Russia's North Caucasus, which killed 19 people, appealed the court ruling, seeking more lenient sentences or not-guilty verdicts
* The fire that broke out at a home for disabled children in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe killed 13 children
* The Russian chief epidemiologist recommended Russian tourists against visiting northeastern Turkey due to an outbreak of bird flu there
* Several thousand people in nearly 100 apartment blocks in a Siberian city were left without heating and hot water all day Sunday due to a pipe rupture
* An international festival of snow sculptures opened in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk
