Main News of December 3

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Secretary of State John Kerry plans to skip a scheduled trip to Ukraine and instead travel to neighboring Moldova to show support for the small ex-Soviet republic’s decision to seek closer integration with the European Union, a path Kiev declined to pursue last week

* Claims that Ukraine's army may be deployed against peaceful protesters are untrue and are merely a provocation, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Tuesday amid a wave of anti-government protests in Kiev

* Ukrainian lawmakers swatted down a no-confidence measure Tuesday proposed by opposition leaders to try to force a new government as tens of thousands of mostly anti-government protesters rallied outside the state parliament building

* A total of 248 people have received medical treatment in Kiev since anti-government protests turned violent at the weekend, Ukraine’s health ministry said

RUSSIA

* Lawmakers from a region of Siberia have presented a draft bill to the lower house of the state parliament that would ban foreigners from adopting Russian children

* There is no need to impose new restrictions on the Internet as current laws are sufficient, Russian President Vladimir Putin said

* Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the establishment of a new anti-corruption department in the presidential administration, according to a decree published Tuesday

* Russia’s Economy Ministry cut its forecast for economic growth in 2014 by half a percent Tuesday amid warnings that stagnation was set to persist

* An independent poll released Tuesday showed that one-third of Russians do not support Vladimir Putin’s actions as president, but the findings have been roundly criticized as unreliable by an influential pro-Kremlin political analyst

* Russia ranked 127th out of 177 countries on a 2013 corruption perceptions ranking published Tuesday by anti-graft organization Transparency International, showing little change since last year

* Russian government has told four state-owned natural monopolies to slash their costs in half over the next five years, in cuts the companies have complained will be extremely difficult, Russian business daily Kommersant reported

BUSINESS

* Ukraine’s national energy company said Tuesday that it has agreed with its main natural gas supplier, Russia’s Gazprom, to defer payments for winter fuel deliveries to spring next year

CRIME

* A Moscow court on Tuesday sentenced a star ballet dancer at the Bolshoi Theater to six years in jail for organizing an acid attack on his troupe’s artistic director, bringing a highly charged trial to a close