Main news of December 6

RUSSIA

* The governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod, elected on Saturday Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad as the interim leader of the Church

* Russia's stake on nanotechnologies will help faster overcome the consequences of the global financial crisis and bring production to a new level, a Russian deputy premier said

* Thousands of people gathered outside the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow on Saturday to pay their respects to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, who died Friday

* Bills on tougher punishments for pedophiles and on responsibility for making, distributing and acquiring child pornography have been submitted to the lower house of Russia's parliament

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged the head of the OSCE's election watchdog to speed up work in developing new rules for monitoring, the ministry said

* The temperature in Moscow hit 9.4 degrees Celsius (48.92 degrees Fahrenheit) in the early hours of Saturday, a record high for December, a meteorological website said

* A fire broke out in a bus depot in the south Russian city of Sochi after a possible arson attack, destroying eight buses, local authorities said

* Five people were killed and two injured in a collision between two cars and a motorbike in south Russia's Krasnodar Territory on Saturday, a local police official said

* Russia's Admiral Chabanenko destroyer crossed the Panama Canal overnight, becoming the first Russian or Soviet warship to enter the waterway since World War II

WORLD

* Indian police announced on Sunday the arrests of two Indian men accused of illegally buying SIM cards that were used by terrorists to coordinate a series of attacks in Mumbai last week