Main news of December 18

RUSSIA

* Projects to build an oil pipeline across the Balkans and a natural gas pipeline under the Black Sea will boost Europe's energy security, Russian President Vladimir Putin said

* Even though Russia has frozen its compliance with the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, the country does not plan to build up armed forces in its European part, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* Top weapons inspector Hans Blix hailed the start of Russian nuclear fuel supplies to Iran as a positive step in resolving the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program

* At least one police officer was killed and five wounded after their vehicle, which was transporting prisoners, blew up in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, a source in the local police said

* Russia does not plan to build additional military facilities in the Kaliningrad Region, its exclave bordering on Poland, a Russian presidential aide said

* Russia plans to deploy an orbiting base for manned and unmanned missions to the Moon and Mars after 2020, the space agency said

* A court in Krasnoyarsk, east Siberia, has sentenced three men to between 9-15 years in prison for sexually abusing young boys in a trial that lasted more than a year, a court spokesperson said

* At least four people have been killed and four injured in a fire on a boat sailing under the Cambodian flag in Russia's Far East, a source in the local naval rescue service said

WORLD

* Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has not been seen in public since summer 2006, suggested he might step down, Spanish news agency EFE said

* Ukraine's parliament voted to approve pro-Western coalition leader Yulia Tymoshenko's return as prime minister

* Ukraine's new Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said her government would hold its first session on Wednesday, focusing on the national budget

* A unit of Turkish special forces numbering about 300 carried out a brief incursion against Kurdish rebels, about three kilometers into Iraqi territory

* Over two million Muslim hajj pilgrims from 181 countries gathered at Mount Arafat, east of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for 'woqouf,' or prayer and asking for absolution in the presence of God

* Supporters of the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein marked the first anniversary of his execution according to the Islamic lunar calendar, Arab media reported

* Poland's government asked the president to approve a withdrawal of the country's troops from Iraq by October 31, 2008

* Serbia's foreign minister said his country would push for further talks on its breakaway province of Kosovo at a United Nations Security Council session

* A new border treaty between Russia and Latvia came into effect when the countries' foreign ministers exchanged ratification documents at a ceremony in Riga

* Over 10,000 Palestinians attended the funeral of a top Palestinian militant in the Gaza Strip, killed along with other gunmen in overnight Israeli air strikes

* Two U.S. astronauts completed the 100th spacewalk from the International Space Station to inspect joints that move the station's solar arrays, NASA said

* Poland's new prime minister, Donald Tusk, will visit Russia in late January, the Polish parliamentary speaker said

* Kyrgyzstan's Ata-Meken opposition party is refusing to recognize the results of parliamentary elections December 16 and will demand a revote at some polling stations, a party leader said

* Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin said any future resolution of the situation in Transdnestr, the country's breakaway republic, should not be based on the 'Kosovo pattern'

* A hungry wolf descended from the mountains in Aquila, central Italy, and went to a local bar searching for food, the Italian ANSA news agency said

BUSINESS

* Russian energy giant Gazprom has invested 0.85 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in the development of northwest Siberia's Yuzhno-Russkoye oil and gas deposit, a company official said

* A tripartite agreement between Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Russia on the construction of the Caspian gas pipeline will be signed in Moscow December 20, the Turkmen president's press service said

* South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries has launched a new 104,000-dwt tanker ordered by Russia's Primorsk Shipping Corporation (PRISCO), a company spokesperson said

* Russian nuclear fuel producer TVEL plans to sign a deal with U.S. company General Electric and a European firm at the start of 2008 to promote nuclear fuel on their markets, TVEL said

* Gazprom and Germany's Wingas AG intend to boost their joint underground gas storage capacity to 8 billion cubic meters, the Russian energy giant's chief executive said