* The Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan has initiated criminal proceedings based on reports by the Central Election Commission of violations during the November 6 parliamentary elections
* Italy issued arrest warrants for high-profile Russian officials and the daughter of former Kremlin property manager Pavel Borodin on suspicion of money laundering
* A Russian rocket successfully launched the U.S. Inmarsat-4 satellite from a Pacific Ocean launch pad
* The board of Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom approved the company's investment program for 2006
* Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas and TNK-BP executives met to discuss the sale/purchase of stock in Lithuania's Mazeikiu nafta oil concern
* The Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry signed an agreement with the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries, and Mines to set up a joint business center
* Russian Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said export duties on liquefied natural gas could be abolished shortly
* Russia's East Siberian Railroad Company said it had tripled oil shipments to China in October
* A local newspaper reported mass deaths of migrant birds in southeastern Ukraine
* The Interior Ministry said more than 189,000 people had rallied across Russia to mark the 88th anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the main Soviet-era public holiday
