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Main news of December 2

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A roundup of what has happened in the last 24 hours 02.12.2009, Sputnik International

2009-12-02T21:01+0000

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Main news of December 2

21:01 GMT 02.12.2009

A roundup of what has happened in the last 24 hours

WORLD

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has arrived in Rome to discuss bilateral economic cooperation with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and meet with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican

* Moscow sees the basic points of the U.S. new strategy on Afghanistan outlined by President Barack Obama in his address to the nation on Tuesday night as being positive, the Russian Foreign Ministry said

* An Afghan lawmaker has criticized U.S. President Barack Obama's new strategy on Afghanistan outlined in his address to the nation on Tuesday night

* The Polish defense minister said on Wednesday Poland will send 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday Tehran will enrich its own uranium to a level of 20% for its research reactor

* The North Korean leadership is not yet ready resume six-party talks on its nuclear program, the speaker of the upper house of Russia's parliament said after his visit to the country

* The Russia-NATO Council will go ahead with its ministerial-level meeting on December 4, the Russian foreign minister said

* Iranian President Mahmound Ahmadinejad has said Russia "made a mistake" when it backed the UN nuclear watchdog's recent resolution on Iran

* U.S. President Barack Obama will not name a specific date to end the transfer of power to Afghanistan's authorities in his address to the nation, a senior administration official

* U.S. President Barack Obama outlined a new strategy on Afghanistan in his address to the nation on Tuesday night, saying 30,000 troops would be additionally deployed by next summer

* Turkish-Armenian deals can only be ratified after the Nagorny Karabakh issue is resolved, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said at a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov in Athens

* Twenty-three workers were exposed to low levels of radiation after a leak at Chubu Electric Power Co.'s Hamaoka nuclear plant in central Japan, the company said

* Iranian authorities have released five British sailors who were detained on November 25, the ISNA news agency said

RUSSIA

* Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili insists that two Russian experts, who were refused entrance into Georgia on Tuesday, were closely working with the Russian special services

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will discuss bilateral economic cooperation with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during his visit to Italy on December 3 and meet with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican, a Kremlin aide said

* A temperature of 8.1 degrees Celsius (46.58 degrees Fahrenheit) was recorded in Moscow on Wednesday, the highest for 111 years, the Meteonovosti website said

* The bomb attack that derailed a Russian express train last week killing 26 people and injuring over 90 bore the hallmarks of Islamist terrorism, a top investigator has said

* Russia and Argentina signed a memorandum on customs information exchange, Argentine authorities said

BUSINESS

* Events like the Dubai World debt crisis are likely to continue next year and possibly in 2011, the Russian finance minister said

* Russia's GDP decrease in 2009 will exceed the forecasted earlier figure of 8.5%, the Russian finance minister said

* RusHydro, Russia's largest hydropower company, said on Wednesday its net profit under International Financial Reporting Standards increased 140%, year-on-year, in January-June 2009 to 17.9 billion rubles ($817 million)

* The official dollar rate set by the Russian Central Bank for the December 3 is 29.056 rubles, down 12.11 kopeks, the Central Bank said

* Muslims should withdraw their money from Swiss banks in protest at a recent vote in favor of banning minarets in the country, a senior Turkish minister has said

* Russia's crude oil output grew 1% year-on-year in January-November 2009 to 451.63 million metric tons (3.3 billion barrels), the Energy Ministry said

* The World Bank has approved the allocation of a $200 million "development" loan to Belarus affected by the global economic crisis, the bank said on its website

SPORTS

* A team of Russian and German doctors has said that injured Russian bobsleigher Irina Skvortsova, currently in an induced coma, must remain in a German hospital for further treatment