Main news of January 7

A roundup of what happened in the past 24 hours.

WORLD

* The New Start agreement with the United States on strategic nuclear arms cuts favors Russia more than the now-expired START 1 deal did, a top Russian lawmaker says.

* Pre-trial hearings in the case of Russian businessman Viktor Bout have been moved from January 10 to January 21, the court in New York announced.

RUSSIA

* President Dmitry Medvedev congratulated all Orthodox believers and all Russians with Christmas, the Kremlin said.

* Russian Orthodox believers flocked to churches to celebrate Christmas.

* Russian regional airline Kogalymavia has paid financial compensation to 64 passengers who were on board the plane that caught fire on New Year's Day, the airline press service said.

* The Admiral Makarov icebreaker is less than 15 miles from the refrigerator ship Bereg Nadezhdy, which has been trapped in ice off Russia's Pacific Coast for a week, the Russian Transport Ministry said.

BUSINESS

* The construction of the first Nord Stream pipeline is 75% complete.

* Japanese Mitsubishi Corp and Nippon Oil have received rights for 290,000 tones of CO2 emission from a joint Kyoto project with Russian Gazprom Neft, the Japanese companies said in a statement.