Main news of December 8

RUSSIA

* Thousands of people have been paying final farewells to Patriarch Alexy II, lying in state in a central Moscow cathedral, in tribute to his role in reviving Russian Orthodox Christianity after decades of the atheist Soviet rule

* One naval officer died in a fire on Russia's Baltic Fleet frigate the Neukrotimy (Indomitable), a senior Navy official said

* Russia's agricultural regulator has imposed provisional restrictions on pork imports from Ireland following a contamination risk warning by Irish authorities, a service spokesman said

* Russia must re-establish its solid presence in Africa by actively participating in conflict resolution on the continent, including in Sudan, a Russian senator said

* Any European missile defense network that includes elements of a U.S. missile shield in Poland and the Czech republic would be aimed against Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said

* The Moscow City Court ordered that an ill former Yukos executive charged with embezzlement be released, setting bail for the AIDS patient at 50 million rubles ($1.8 million)

* The Russian government has drafted a rescue package of 150 billion rubles ($5.4 billion) for the country's defense and industrial complex amid the ongoing global financial crisis, a business paper reported

* A Russian An-124 Condor heavy transport plane has delivered four helicopters along with personnel to Chad to take part in an EU-led mission to support UN peacekeeping efforts in the country, an Air Force spokesman said

WORLD

* Street riots continued for a third day in Greece on Monday, amid public anger over the fatal shooting of a teenage boy by police

* U.S. president-elect Barack Obama has said that he wants to "reset" relations between Washington and an "increasingly assertive" Moscow

*  The Somali pirates holding the Ukrainian cargo ship the Faina are disgruntled with delays in the payment of a ransom, the Ukrainian ICTV television station said on Monday, citing a pirate

* Belarus has destroyed its remaining 15 Strela-2M portable air defense systems under an agreement with a European security body, the Defense Ministry said

* Switzerland's Foreign Ministry has officially agreed to represent Russia's interests in Georgia

* A Ukrainian lawmaker who led a commission investigating arms supplies to Georgia plans to sue the defense minister for removing his military titles, the UNIAN news agency reported

* A senior member of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's parliamentary bloc has denied reports of a coalition deal with the opposition Party of Regions, the UNIAN news agency said

* The launch of an Ariane 5 carrier rocket with two telecoms satellites from the Kourou space center in French Guiana has been moved to December 21, French media said

* The European Union admitted that Russia may have been among the countries that received Irish pork exports contaminated with toxic dioxins

* The Turkish Air Force carried out a number of strikes on Kurdish separatist positions in northern Iraq, the NTV channel reported citing defense sources

* An international conference on security in Northeast Asia will take place in Moscow at the start of next year, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported

BUSINESS

* Standard & Poor's has lowered Russia's long and short-term sovereign foreign currency credit ratings from BBB+/A-2 to BBB/A-3 with a negative outlook, the international rating agency said

* TNK-BP, Russia's third largest crude producer, plans to keep crude oil exports at 30 million metric tons (220 million barrels) in 2009, a senior executive of the joint Russian-British oil venture said

SPORTS

* CSKA Moscow, who recently parted company with trainer Valery Gazzayev, denied on Monday that they would seek to replace the former national side coach with Frank Rijkaard, Sport Express reported

* Russia has lost 5-4 to Afghanistan in the final of soccer's 2008 Homeless World Cup in Melbourne, Australia