Main news of December 20

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

 

*There were tears and condolences as North Koreans mourned the death of leader Kim Jong-il on Tuesday in the country’s Moscow embassy at a ceremony to which RIA Novosti was granted exclusive access.

*Countries outside the Collective Security Treaty Organization will only be able to establish bases on the territory of a member state with the consent of all members, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said after a CSTO meeting.

*The European Court of Human Rights has decided to “fast track” a hearing into former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s August complaint over her detention in Kiev.

*NATO defended its mission in Libya, saying it saved lives and was strictly in line with the UN mandate.

*Georgia’s parliament voted in favor of President Mikheil Saakashvili’s plan to send more troops to Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

 

RUSSIA

 

*The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has fined the Russian government about 1.25 million euros in favor of victims of the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis, the court said.

*Investigators say there were three possible causes for the capsize of Russia’s Kolskaya oil rig that overturned in the Sea of Okhotsk in the country’s Far East on Sunday.

*Russia carried out a successful test of a short-range interceptor missile as a part of its effort to develop a domestic missile defense shield, the Defense Ministry said.

*Russia is ranked 130th in global charity in a new study of 153 nations conducted by the UK's Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)