Main news of December 7

A roundup of what has happened in the last 24 hours

WORLD

* An agreement on the status of U.S. troops on Polish soil, known as the SOFA deal, will be signed on December 10 in Warsaw, a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman said

* U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Monday supported a European Union commitment to further reduce greenhouse emissions to 30%

* Russian and U.S. diplomats held a second session of a bilateral working group on arms control and international security to discuss joint efforts in nuclear non-proliferation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement

* The energy ministers of nine European Union countries signed a joint declaration on a common system of wind-driven power generators in the North Sea, an EU Council spokesman said

* Afghan police arrested Kabul's mayor, Abdul Ahad Sahebi, following a court ruling, Kabul's police chief told RIA Novosti

* The Moldovan parliament failed for the third time this year to elect a president after the Communists walked out of the vote, leaving the sole candidate short of the necessary votes

* At least five people were killed and around 30 were injured in a suicide bombing outside a court in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, the country's Geo TV reported

* The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe should take note of the UN stance on the Azerbaijani-Armenian territorial dispute and support Baku, Turkey's prime minister has said

* Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special envoy to North Korea, has arrived in Seoul to engage in consultations with South Korean officials prior to his highly-anticipated visit to North Korea, the Yonhap news agency reported

* China will be the first permanent member of the UN Security Council to present its arguments over the legitimacy of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia at the International Court of Justice

* Virgin Galactic, a U.S. space tourism company, will unveil to the public its first SpaceShipTwo commercial six-passenger space vehicle

* Bolivian President Evo Morales is heading toward a landslide re-election for a second term as voters showed strong support of his populist reforms in the poverty-stricken Latin American country, local media reported

* The 15th UN climate change conference, a result of two-year international talks on a binding treaty to cut the global emission of greenhouse gases, opened on Monday in Copenhagen

RUSSIA

* Russia is likely to send its new ambassador, Mikhail Zurabov, to Ukraine after next year's presidential elections in the ex-Soviet state, Russia's former envoy to Ukraine said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev highlighted Moscow's determination to step up trade with India during a meeting with visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

* Russia observed a national day of mourning on Monday for the victims of a horrific nightclub fire in the Urals

* Bilateral discussions between Russia's president and India's prime minister are expected to focus on cooperation in energy and civil and military technology, as well as pharmaceuticals and the diamond industry

 

BUSINESS

* Gazprom is considering the possibility of supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the United States via Mexico, the Russian energy giant said

* Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), one of Russia's largest metallurgy companies, posted a US GAAP consolidated net loss of $79 million in the first nine months of 2009, the company said

* The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has delayed considering an application from Russia's aluminum giant RusAl for a $2.5 billion initial public offering (IPO) on the bourse, two sources close to banking quarters said

* Russia's future natural gas exports to China will be equivalent to around one third of its Europe-bound gas supplies, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said

* Ukraine's reduced demand for gas will cost Gazprom $1.3 billion in 2009, the Russian energy giant said

* The official dollar rate set by the Russian Central Bank for December 8 is 29,5221 rubles, up 32.42 kopeks, the Central Bank said

* Russia's state-controlled retail savings bank Sberbank said its net profit under International Financial Reporting Standards in January-September fell 88%, year-on-year, to 10.3 billion rubles ($349 million)