Main news of December 19

RUSSIA

* Three ships from Russia's Northern Fleet arrived in Havana Bay as part of the Russian Navy's first visit to Cuba since the Cold War

* Russia hopes that the United States will begin a dialogue with Iran after President-elect Barack Obama assumes office, Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said

* Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, passed a president-proposed package of anti-corruption legislation in its third and final reading

* A Russian Su-24M Fencer tactical bomber crashed near the southwest Russian city of Voronezh after the pilots ejected safely, an Air Force spokesman said

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin demanded that natural monopolies and state-run companies buy only Russian-made cars, and recommended private companies to do likewise

* Russia urged the radical Palestinian movement Hamas to reverse its decision to end its ceasefire with Israel, declared on June 19, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said

* Russian troops have returned to Perevi village along Georgia's border with South Ossetia to prevent growing tensions in the area, the Foreign Ministry said in response to criticism by EU monitors

* Russia's Baltic Fleet Neustrashimy (Fearless) missile frigate is escorting a group of commercial ships off the Somali coast, a Russian Navy spokesman said

WORLD

* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, currently in Moscow on a visit, asked the United States for $5 billion in financial aid, the president told state media in Minsk

* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he fully supported Russia's idea to deploy short-range missiles in its Kaliningrad exclave in response to a U.S. missile shield in Central Europe

* NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer held an informal meeting with Russia's envoy to the alliance, Dmitry Rogozin, a spokesman for the Russian mission to NATO said

*  The Russia-NATO Council will hold an informal meeting at ambassadorial level in mid-January, the Russian envoy to the North Atlantic alliance, Dmitry Rogozin, said

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for the inclusion of South Ossetia at sessions of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) during a speech to the upper house of parliament

* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he no longer considers early parliamentary elections to be a priority, national media reported

* The United Nations General Assembly refused for the second time this year to include discussions on Ukraine's 1932-1933 famine, which Kiev wants recognized as an act of genocide, in the agenda of the current UN session

* The radical Islamic group Hamas said it considers a six-month ceasefire with Israel in the Gaza Strip to be over

* The Bush administration is making a last ditch attempt to "drag" Georgia and Ukraine into NATO before U.S. president-elect Barack Obama takes office, an analyst on Russian-American relations said

BUSINESS

* Kiev has paid Russian energy giant Gazprom $1 billion towards its natural gas debt to cover September and October, the UNIAN news agency quoted a Ukrainian presidential spokeswoman as saying

* The head of Russia's largest car producer, AvtoVAZ, Boris Alyoshin, said he expected the Russian car market to contract in 2009 by 40-50%

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that energy projects between Russia and Bulgaria will progress without delays, despite the global financial crisis

* Russia and Ukraine reassured the European Commission that their current gas dispute will have no affect on Russian gas supplied to the EU via Ukraine, the commission's energy spokesman said

* Russia's state-controlled VTB bank has provided a 44.2 billion-ruble ($1.6 billion) loan to Alrosa, Russia's largest diamond producer, the bank said

SPORT

* Spartak Moscow surrendered a two-goal lead against Tottenham Hotspur in London and failed to join CSKA Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg in draw for the UEFA Cup play-off stages