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Main news of December 12

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RUSSIA * Russia's unilateral moratorium on a major arms reductions treaty in Europe came into force immediately after midnight * Russia will lift its... 12.12.2007, Sputnik International

2007-12-12T19:10+0000

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Main news of December 12

19:10 GMT 12.12.2007

RUSSIA

* Russia's unilateral moratorium on a major arms reductions treaty in Europe came into force immediately after midnight

* Russia will lift its two-year embargo on Polish meat next week in line with an agreement reached with Warsaw, the Russian agriculture minister said

* Russia's defense industry has started the construction of a prototype of a fifth-generation combat aircraft, the Air Force commander said

* A majority owner of the Rossiya bank and friend of President Vladimir Putin plans to buy a 51% stake in a leading Russian newspaper, Izvestia, the Kommersant business daily said

* The British Council has been ordered to close all its Russian offices outside Moscow from the start of next year over tax and legal status violations, the Russian Foreign Ministry said

* Uranium supplied by Russia for the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran will not be enriched to a level capable of producing nuclear weapons, Russian nuclear fuel producer TVEL said

* Russia will re-equip a second Air Force regiment in the Far East with modernized Su-27SM Flanker fighters by the fall of 2008, an AF spokesman said

* President Vladimir Putin has appointed Sergei Kiriyenko, Russia's top civilian nuclear official, to head state nuclear power corporation Rosatom, the Kremlin press office said

* Malaysia may soon order a new batch of Russian-made Su-30MKM combat aircraft to equip an additional fighter squadron, a Russian source at the recent LIMA-2007 air show said

* A court in east Siberia has extended the custody of Mikhail Khodorkovsky until February 7 on a request from the General Prosecutor's Office, a lawyer of the jailed Yukos founder said

* Russia marked the 14th anniversary of its Constitution, unamended since its original adoption in 1993

* About 500,000 chickens will be culled at a poultry farm in southern Russia, where 35,000 birds have died from bird flu since late November, a source in the local emergencies service said

WORLD

* The U.S. secretary of state has said that Dmitry Medvedev, the man backed by Vladimir Putin to succeed him as Russia's leader, represents a different generation of Russian political leaders

* NATO said in a statement that it regretted Russia's decision to impose a moratorium on a major arms reductions treaty in Europe and urged Moscow to reverse its decision

* A Lebanese army general, widely-predicted to become the country's chief of staff after next week's presidential elections, was killed in a car bomb in the capital Beirut

* Israeli and Palestinian negotiators launched their first formal peace talks in seven years

* The North African arm of terrorist group al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for Tuesday's two truck bombings outside a UN building in Algiers, which killed at least 26 people, including 11 UN staff

* Spain's national court is considering a suit accusing Cuban President Fidel Castro of genocide and other crimes, a court spokesman said

* Pakistani soldiers have been involved in a deadly clash with Islamic militants in the northwest of the country, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said

* Israel's Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff has said that a major military offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip is becoming more likely, the daily Haaretz reported

* Ukraine's parliament failed once again to vote on Yulia Tymoshenko's reappointment as premier on Wednesday after opponents to the 'orange' camp blocked the rostrum

* A high-ranking Egyptian official made an official visit to Iran, the first since diplomatic ties between the two countries were severed in 1979

* The New York Philharmonic announced a ground-breaking visit to North Korea, one that the orchestra's director hopes will prove to be "a manifestation of the power of music to unite people"

* At least twenty one people have been killed and two more injured in a fire in a 28-floor building in the city of Wenzhou, in China's Zhejiang Province, the Xinhua news agency said

* A UN war crimes tribunal granted a provisional release to a former Yugoslav army officer until his appeal is considered, the International Criminal Tribunal said

* A Canadian man has appeared in court in Toronto accused of killing his 16-year-old daughter, reportedly over her refusal to wear a traditional Islamic head scarf, national media said
BUSINESS

* Russia's Gazprom and Iran are interested in the further development of energy cooperation, the energy giant said

* Gazprom is seeking to increase natural gas supplies to Britain, the Russian company said after a meeting between CEO Alexei Miller and British Minister of State for Energy Malcolm Wicks

* The board of Alrosa has decided to set up a 100% subsidiary in the form of a holding to run its assets in Africa, the Russian diamond monopoly said

* Russia's Evraz Group said it had signed a deal to acquire majority stakes in selected production assets in Ukraine