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Main news of December 17

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RUSSIA * Russia's newly crowned Miss World, Ksenia Sukhinova, arrived in Moscow on Wednesday and will soon return to her home city and outpourings of... 17.12.2008, Sputnik International

2008-12-17T19:09+0000

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Main news of December 17

19:09 GMT 17.12.2008

RUSSIA

* Russia's newly crowned Miss World, Ksenia Sukhinova, arrived in Moscow on Wednesday and will soon return to her home city and outpourings of congratulations from her family and friends

* Oleg Mitvol, dismissed three months ago as deputy head of the Russian environmental regulator Rosprirodnadzor, lost a lawsuit against his dismissal in a Moscow court

* Russia is considering different options for its cooperation with OPEC, from observation to membership, a Russian deputy prime minister said

* Russia's Strategic Missile Forces plan 13 training missile launches for next year, the forces commander Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov said

* An opinion poll has found that Russians and Georgians have not changed their attitudes to each other despite the August war, but that opinions on their respective leaders have worsened

* The upper house of Russia's parliament approved a bill on Wednesday to abolish juries for terrorist trials and cases involving kidnapping, state treason, espionage, coup d'etats and other serious offenses

* As heavy snow fell across parts of Europe this month, Moscow, which has been hit by an unusually warm spell, finally got a light sprinkling of "unnatural" snow

* A Moscow military court adjourned on Wednesday the trial of suspects in the murder of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya until Thursday, a court spokesman said

* The mayor of the town of Kandalaksha in northwest Russia's Murmansk Region was stabbed to death late on Tuesday, a police source said

WORLD

* Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili ruled out on Wednesday holding presidential elections in the country next year, dismissing the opposition's wishes for a vote in the spring

* A court in the U.S. state of Virginia on Wednesday acquitted Miles Harrison of the involuntary manslaughter of his 21-month-old son, according to a Fairfax County court verdict

* Russia's ambassador to Ukraine, Viktor Chernomyrdin, denied on Wednesday reports he had resigned from the post

* Russia will continue to take part in international efforts to crack down on piracy off the Horn of Africa, which will improve stability in Somalia, the Foreign Ministry said

* A Russian man who was abducted in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, a week ago was freed and four people arrested in a special police operation, a senior press spokesman at the Russian Embassy said

* Ukraine's gross foreign debt almost doubled in the first nine months of 2008 and stood at $105 billion as of October 1, a spokesman for the ex-Soviet country's National Bank said

* Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has pardoned 1,280 prisoners as a gesture of goodwill on a national religious holiday, a presidential administration spokesman said

* Eight Ukrainians are among the crewmembers on board a Turkish ship captured by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said

* Afghan National Army and NATO-led units have killed about 50 Taliban militants in a special operation that started on Friday in the southern Helmand province, a Defense Ministry source said

* Russia's foreign minister has urged all parties involved in six-nation talks on North Korea's denuclearization to fulfill their commitments and called for transparency in bilateral contacts

* The UN Security Council unanimously voted in favor of a resolution sanctioning anti-piracy operations on Somalia's territory and in its airspace

BUSINESS

* Russia's forecast GDP growth for 2009 is 2.4%, while the prediction for industrial output growth has been lowered to 3%, the economic development minister said