Main news of December 2

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Iran has finished loading fuel into the core of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, Russia's contractor Atomstroiexport said

* Russian gas giant Gazprom behaves "like a vulture" in its attempts to gain new assets, WikiLeaks cables from the new tranche of the leaked documents said

* Russia supplied separatist forces in South Ossetia and Abkhazia with weapons in the lead-up to the Georgian attack on South Ossetia in August 2008, U.S. diplomatic cables published by the WikiLeaks website allege

* Julian Assange, the enigmatic founder of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, is currently lying low in south-east England, The Independent said

* Corruption in Russia is widespread and involves the Kremlin and other leading officials, leaked secret diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks website allege

* Russia does not believe Iran plans to develop nuclear weapons but supports efforts by the International Atomic Energy Agency to clarify the situation, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

RUSSIA

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin instructed the health ministry to review the salaries of medical specialists

* Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is determined to prevent large numbers of foreign workers coming to the Russian capital in search of a better life

* The Russian government has banned foreigners from selling alcohol and drugs, as well as from working as salespeople at marketplaces and retail outlets outside of stores

BUSINESS

* Bashneft, the mid-sized Russian oil company belonging to AFK Sistema holding firm, has won a tender for the license to develop the huge Trebs and Titov deposits without an auction, the Natural Resources Ministry said

* The Russian government has approved a privatization plan for 2011-2013, including the top 10 state-owned assets, which could bring an extra 1 trillion rubles ($33 billion) to state coffers, the government said in a statement on its website

*U.S. PepsiCo has signed a $3.8 billion deal to buy 66 percent of Wimm-Bill-Dann, one of Russia's leading dairy producers, sending Wimm-Bill-Dann shares soaring 20 percent, Wimm-Bill-Dann's co-owner and board member David Yakobashvili said

* LUKoil, Russia's largest independent oil producer, and U.S. Nalco Holding Company will establish a joint venture to produce chemical reagents in Siberia, LUKoil said

*Swedish retailer IKEA said it had settled all disputes with St. Petersburg's energy contractors, putting an end to a long-running scandal over electricity supplies

SPORTS

* Russia will host the 2018 World Cup, the FIFA Executive Committee in Switzerland's Zurich announced

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has made a swift departure for Zurich to celebrate Russia's successful 2018 World Cup bid

* Qatar will host the 2022 Wolrd Cup, the FIFA Executive Committee said during a ceremony in Switzerland's Zurich