Main news of December 1

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* The opposition candidate in the South Ossetian presidential elections, Alla Dzhioyeva, who claims to have won the November 27 runoff vote that was later annulled, said no agreement has been reached with the authorities.

* Foreign ministers of the 27 European Union member states approved a fresh round of sanctions against Syria and Iran at their meeting on Thursday, Western media said.

* Iran’s law enforcement agencies have released eleven students detained for attacking the British Embassy in Tehran, Iranian media reported.

* EU sanctions against Syria do not prohibit Russian arms supplies to the Arab country, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said.

* Russia and the European Union will discuss early in 2012 the possibility of exempting Russian companies from the provisions of the EU Third Energy Package, which requires the separation of energy production, transportation and sales, European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger said.

* Russian Ambassador to Britain Alexander Yakovenko has proposed rewarding British rescuers involved in the operation in the Irish Sea following the sinking of a cargo ship with Russian sailors onboard.

 

RUSSIA

* Belarus has received $2.5 billion from Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom from the sale of the remaining 50 percent stake in the national gas pipeline operator Beltransgaz, the National Bank of Belarus said.

* The number of motor vehicles in Moscow has grown by 600,000 since the start of the year, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the state-run TV Center channel.

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin confirmed on Thursday that he would switch posts with outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev if voters support the pro-Kremlin United Russia party and Putin's candidacy in upcoming elections.

* Moscow is unable to approve thousands of Kosovo Serbs’ applications for Russian citizenship, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

* Despite Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s efforts to fight corruption, its level in Russia remains extremely high, with the country ranking 143rd out of 182 countries in Transparency International's 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index published.