Main news of December 15

RUSSIA

* Russia is hoping to draft a new arms reduction treaty with the U.S. and reach a compromise on the U.S. missile shield in Europe by the end of 2009, a Russian deputy foreign minister said

* The Russian government plans to spend an extra 150 billion rubles ($5.4 billion) to prop up the real sector of the economy amid the global financial crisis, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said

* The Moscow City Court sentenced seven young men, convicted of 20 race-hate murders and 12 other attacks, to between 6 to 20 years in prison

* A new case was officially opened against former Interior Ministry officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov in the murder of investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, his lawyer said

WORLD

 * The Arab Lawyers Union is looking to establish an international committee to take on the case of the Baghdad "shoe attack" journalist, Egypt's MENA agency said 

* Riots sparked by the recent killing of a teenager by police continued in the Greek capital for a second week as students brought the center to a standstil

* Israel released 227 Palestinian prisoners as a sign of good will, a spokesman for a department on prisons management said

* A CIS observer mission said Turkmenistan's parliamentary polls were free and democratic, despite criticism over the single-party nature of the elections

* China and Taiwan began direct commercial daily flights, shipping, and postal services for the first time in nearly 60 years

BUSINESS

* Gazprom Neft, the oil producing arm of energy giant Gazprom, said its U.S. GAAP net profit grew 84.5%, year-on-year, in January-September to $5.2 billion