* The director of Moscow's Basmanny market where the roof caved in Thursday, killing at least 58 people and injuring more than 30 others, has been detained, presumably on negligence charges
* Russian embattled oil company Yukos said it would protest a decision to launch an investigation into operations of its Luxemburg-based subsidiary, Yukos Capital S.a.r.l.
* Latvian TV channel LNT said the country would not grant political asylum to former Yukos vice-president Mikhail Yelfimov, wanted in Russia on fraud charges
* The UN war crimes court in The Hague refused to temporarily release former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, suffering from a heart condition, for medical treatment in Russia, saying there was no evidence to prove he could not be given adequate medical care without leaving the Netherlands
* The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II, said he was concerned over the increasingly large number of compulsive gamblers and drug addicts in Russia and other former Soviet republics
* Georgia's foreign minister said ministry officials and Russia's ambassador would meet in the capital of Tbilisi to discuss the possibility of the Russian consular department resuming the issuance of visas for Georgian nationals after a break announced following Georgian authorities' refusal to grant visas to Russian servicemen deployed in the South Caucasus republic
* Ukraine's foreign minister said the country could gain membership in the World Trade Organization as early as 2006 and criticized the national parliament for attempts to block legislation essential to WTO accession
* Russian skier Yulia Chepalova finished second in a 30-km race at the Turin Olympics, having covered the distance in 1 hour, 22 minutes and 25.4 seconds
* Russia's chief naval commander, Admiral Vladimir Masorin, arrived in Turkey to discuss the Turkish operation Black Sea Harmony, designed to patrol the Bosphorus and Dardanelle straits in cooperation with fellow members of the Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group (Blackseafor), including Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine
