Spain displayed its customary problems in attack as it was held to a 0-0 draw by Russia in a World Cup warm-up in Albacete on Saturday.

The French Open started on a Sunday for the first time, and Roger Federer wasn't quite ready.

Mironov Warns 2 Nations Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov indicated Friday that Georgia and Ukraine could suffer financial losses if they withdrew from the Commonwealth of Independent States. Mironov suggested Georgian and Ukrainian leaders should think twice before quitting the CIS, a Kremlin-led loose grouping of 12 former Soviet republics. ""One should not count on economic preferences for countries whose leadership decides to leave the CIS,"" Mironov said. ""In that case, without doubt, all these preferences would cease to exist."" (AP) Rakhmonov Thanks Putin Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov thanked President Vladimir Putin on Friday for helping train and supply his nation's border guards, who last year took over control from Russian guards. In televised comments following a meeting with Putin at his residence in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Rakhmonov said Tajikistan appreciated Russia's assistance in creating a ""normal, civilized"" border force and its help with training and supplies.

In early May, Radek Sikorski drew some fire when he compared the North European Gas Pipeline deal linking Russia's West Siberian fields and Germany to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939.

Patriotism has its pleasures and dangers. As an American, I am proud when one of us wins the Nobel Prize or Olympic gold, or when we pull off a swift, just and successful invasion, as that of Afghanistan seemed to be.