Main news of December 9

WORLD

Croatia will join the European Union on July 1, 2013 under a treaty it signed in Brussels on Friday with the 27 current EU members

Vladislav Kovalyov, one of the two men sentenced to death in Belarus for bombing a metro station in the capital, Minsk, has appealed to President Alexander Lukashenko for clemency

Greece is satisfied with the recent EU summit, which resulted in stricter financial discipline for eurozone members, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said

RUSSIA

Russia’s governing party, United Russia, will have 238 seats in the new State Duma following Sunday’s parliamentary elections, Central Electoral Commission deputy head Leonid Ivlev said

Opposition activists have been allowed to hold a 30,000-strong rally in downtown Moscow on Saturday to protest the results of the December 4 parliamentary elections

Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev instructed regional police heads on Friday to report on their investigation into alleged voting irregularities during Sunday’s parliamentary election.