Main news of December 27

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

*A group of Arab League monitors arrived to Syria late on Monday on a mission to check whether the peace plan is being observed

*The United States is preparing for talks that could lead to cuts in tactical nuclear weapons and warheads in storage in a future arms agreement with Russia, a senior arms control official said

*Iran's first vice-president warned that no oil will be permitted to pass through the crucial Strait of Hormuz if the West imposes sanctions on Iran's oil exports, the country's official news agency IRNA reported

RUSSIA

* The flight tests of the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile have been completed and it will now be adopted for service with the Russian Navy, President Dmitry Medvedev said

* A review of the results of Russia's December 4 parliamentary elections is impossible, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

* The Abkhaz parliament has ratified an agreement with Russia on creation of a joint military base in the breakaway Georgian republic

* Russia's relatively fast GDP growth, low inflation and unemployment rate are the Russian government's major achievements in the outgoing year despite a slumping global economy, President Dmitry Medvedev said

* Venezuela became the largest importer of Russian arms for ground forces in 2011, the Moscow based Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade (CAWAT) said

*Russia's largest crude oil producer LUKoil and mid-sized oil firm Bashneft have closed deals on a joint venture and partnership to develop the giant Trebs and Titov oilfields in the Russian Arctic, the companies said in a joint statement

*Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed the presidential administration's first deputy head, Vladislav Surkov, to the post of deputy prime minister

* Russia successfully test launched an RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan, Defense Ministry spokesman Vadim Koval said