Main News of December 10

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Tuesday held meetings with three former presidents and EU foreign policy representative Catherine Ashton

* Police moved in on protesters in Ukraine’s capital in the early hours of Tuesday, breaking up the last of their street barricades and driving the demonstrators into Kiev’s central square in an ongoing push to clear major protest sites

RUSSIA

* Dozens of people have been arrested in a police operation against a banned Islamist organization in Dagestan, Russia’s Interior Ministry said

* The chief executive of Uralkali, Russia’s biggest potash fertilizer producer, has been transferred from a pretrial detention center in Moscow and placed under house arrest, a prison spokesman said

* Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian military on Tuesday to boost its presence in the Arctic and complete the development of military infrastructure in the region next year

* Russia’s transport watchdog is considering raising fines for unruly passengers to thousands of US dollars by obliging them to cover costs caused by their actions, a senior official said

* A prominent and outspoken Russian television presenter appointed by the Kremlin to head up a new media conglomerate that will replace RIA Novosti news agency said Monday he would try to improve the world's attitude toward Russia

* President Vladimir Putin has submitted a draft resolution to the State Duma on an amnesty for Russian prisoners to mark the 20th anniversary of the Constitution, the Kremlin reported

DEFENSE

* Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday reiterated staunch opposition to US plans to deploy an extensive missile defense system in Europe, saying the network would “erode” the world’s balance of power

* President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu laid out Russia’s arms procurement roadmap for 2014 on Tuesday including new strategic missiles, tanks and aircraft

BUSINESS

* Russia is to write off $29 billion of Cuba’s Soviet-era debts under an agreement to end a 20-year dispute between the two countries, according to a Reuters report

CRIME

* A pedophile who purchased a boy from his reportedly Russian mother for $8,000, and then trafficked him around the world permitting other men to abuse him, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison by a US court

SPORTS

* Olympic host news agency RIA Novosti will fulfill its obligations at the upcoming Sochi Winter Games despite its imminent liquidation and absorption into a new company, incoming head Dmitry Kiselyov said