Main News of December 31

WORLD

* US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was hospitalized in New York on Sunday after doctors discovered a blood clot, CNN reported

RUSSIA

* Writer and radical protest leader Eduard Limonov, the head of the unregistered Other Russia party, was detained along with several dozen other demonstrators at a traditional Strategy-31 protest rally

* The punishment for those who organize illegal immigration into Russia just got tougher under new amendments to the Criminal Code signed by President Vladimir Putin

* The fatal plane crash at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on Saturday was not due to the condition of the runway, the Interstate Aviation Committee said

BUSINESS

* US President Barack Obama said that a last-minute deal by lawmakers was “in sight” to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” of $500 billion in automatic tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect Jan. 1

* Russian President Vladimir Putin has endorsed agreements on deliveries of natural gas to Belarus in 2013

SPORTS

* An in-form Canadian team continued their perfect record at the world junior hockey championships with a 4-1 win over Russia that gives the Canadians the top spot in their group