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Main News of December 4

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A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours 04.12.2012, Sputnik International

2012-12-04T20:01+0000

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Main News of December 4

20:01 GMT 04.12.2012

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* NATO allies approved the deployment of Patriot air defense systems in Turkey along the border with Syria, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

* Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said they had captured a US drone, the third reported incident involving Iranian forces and American unmanned aircraft in the past 12 months.

* North Korea has completed the installation of the second stage of a carrier rocket and is assembling its third and last stage, South Korean media reported.

* The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide an additional €190 million grant to Ukraine to complete the New Safe Confinement at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, the Ukrainian government press service said.

* Ukraine’s parliament has started debating the 2013 draft budget based on an average price of natural gas imported from Russia equal to $417 per 1,000 cubic meters.

* The widow of ex-FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko says she needs to raise money to pay legal fees, as self-exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky can no longer support her financially.

* Tajikistan’s state Internet provider, Tajiktelekom, has unblocked access to Facebook a week after the state telecoms agency ordered access to the social networking site be blocked over ‘slander.’

* Four people are dead and at least 12 others are missing after a cargo ship capsized in a storm off the Turkish coast, the local coast guard service said.

RUSSIA

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the proposed US ban on deals with Russia’s state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport would be detrimental to the development of bilateral cooperation.

* Moscow is not attempting to prevent Turkey from realizing its right to self-defense by opposing the deployment of Patriot missiles along the border with Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

* Russia risks losing its sovereignty by the mid-21st century if it does not assert its national interests in the Arctic today, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said.

* Russian investigators have closed a criminal case against two former top managers of the MiG corporation accused of providing low-quality equipment for MiG-29 fighters that were rejected by Algeria in 2007, Russia's business daily Kommersant said.

* The Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russian-led military alliance of six former Soviet republics, plans to build an integrated air and missile defense system, the chief of the Russian military’s General Staff said.

* A jailed Russian opposition activist facing charges of conspiring to topple President Vladimir Putin was accused of illegally crossing the country's border with Ukraine to evade prosecution.

BUSINESS

* Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is buying a stake in mining and metals giant Norilsk Nickel to end a long-standing shareholder dispute over the company’s corporate management.

* Russia’s largest diamond miner Alrosa posted a 7 percent year-on-year decrease in its IFRS net profit to 8.623 billion rubles ($279 million) on weaker demand and falling sales volumes.

* US tech giant Apple announced the launch of iTunes online music stores in Russia and 55 other countries.

SPORTS

* The Russian Premier League is thinking about introducing special ID cards for football fans, the latest proposal to tighten up security at top-flight stadiums.

* An initiative to form a new league comprised of clubs from former Soviet states gathered steam, with two-time Russian Premier League champions Rubin Kazan backing the plan.

* The KHL has fined Evgeni Malkin's lockout team $10,000 after its fans lit sparklers in the stands at a recent game.