RUSSIA
* Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov personally examined the scene of the suicide bombing that killed three soldiers at a military firing range in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan.
* Three icons, one of which contained relics of one of Russia's most venerated saints, have been stolen from a church in a village north of Moscow, a police source said.
* Mikhail Pletnev, the leader of the Russian National Orchestra who is accused in Thailand of sexually abusing a minor, will open the second RNO Festival in Moscow.
WORLD
* One Georgian army officer was killed and another injured during an ISAF operation in Afghanistan, Georgia's Defense Ministry said.
* People in the former Soviet republic of Moldova voted in a referendum on whether the country's president should be directly elected.
* The Israeli Air Force launched a series of airstrikes on Gaza in response to a rocket assault by Palestinian militants, the Israeli Defense Forces said.
* Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva will sign a decree pardoning people who committed economic crimes over the last two years, a spokesman for the Kyrgyz government said.
BUSINESS
* Eduard Khudainatov was appointed president of Russia's top state-run oil company, Rosneft. by the company's board of directors.
SPORTS
* CSKA Moscow star Alan Dzagoev urged the Russian media not to criticize Russia's players ahead of their Euro 2012 qualifying match with Slovakia.
* Members of Russia's political elite took to the ice with some of the NHL's biggest stars for a hockey game in support of children affected by this summer's devastating wildfires.
