* Israel is set to consider transferring frozen tax revenues to the Palestinian leader now that Mahmoud Abbas has broken with radical Islamists in the Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) coalition government, a local newspaper said
* Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said it has launched an investigation into British intelligence activities in Russia in response to statements made by businessman Andrei Lugovoi against a former FSB officer and tycoon
* Russia demanded that Austria immediately release the Russian space agency official arrested in the country on suspicion of espionage earlier in the week, and allow him to return home, the Foreign Ministry said
* The Atlantis shuttle mission did not undock from the International Space Station as Russian officials said the Russian segment was still experiencing problems following a computer failure
* The president of Transdnestr, Moldova's self-proclaimed breakaway province, requested that Russia double its 1,300-strong peacekeeping contingent and dismissed proposals that an international peacekeeping force be brought into the region
* The EU special envoy for Moldova said stalled "5+2" negotiations aimed at finding a peaceful resolution to the situation in Transdnestr could restart June 28
* Turkey's outgoing president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, proposed a referendum on constitutional amendments that would allow presidents to be elected by a popular vote, rather than by parliament, the country's NTV television said
* A bank in Russia's Far East, where the North Korean government has an account, denied that it had received over $23 million of Pyongyang's funds reportedly transferred from a Macao bank account
* Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov welcomed private and foreign capital, including that of resource-rich Central Asian states, to expand the only canal that unlocks the Caspian Sea
* Defense ministers of 26 NATO member states spoke out in favor of continuing consultations with Russia on plans to deploy U.S. missile defense elements in Central Europe
* U.S. President George Bush extended sanctions against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and other high-ranking officials from the ex-Soviet republic, dubbed by Washington as Europe's last dictatorship
* Russia's tax service renewed licenses for over 60 alcohol producers after 320 licenses were suspended for 10 days following a regulatory dispute
* Gazprom moved for the government to waive competitive bidding procedures when issuing licenses to develop natural gas deposits, eyeing the Sakhalin III project in the Far East
* Almost 470 slave laborers have been released in China over the past month as a result of a nationwide campaign launched by the country's leadership against the use of forced labor, state Chinese media said
* A senior Kremlin official said a successor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose tenure expires next year, could be someone not widely tipped as a potential candidate
* A court in Russia's capital ordered a top environmental official and a Moscow newspaper to pay the governor of the Moscow Region 110,000 rubles ($4,220) in compensation for moral damages
* Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will visit Russia June 28-30, the Latin American country's embassy in Moscow said
* A Russian Dnepr carrier rocket successfully put Germany's TerraSAR-X satellite in orbit, the Russian space agency said
