Main News of December 10

WORLD

* Kazakhstan and Russia are in talks over returning the city of Baikonur in Kazakhstan – home to Russia’s main rocket launch center – from Russian to local jurisdiction, the head of Kazakhstan’s space agency (Kazkosmos) said on Monday

RUSSIA

* Four men who plotted to bomb an express train between Moscow and St. Petersburg were sentenced in Moscow City Court on Monday to 15 to 18 years in a high-security prison

* A draft bill targeting Americans alleged to have violated Russians’ human rights was introduced in the Russian parliament on Monday, the law being an emotional but not necessarily efficient response to the US Magnitsky Act

* President Vladimir Putin met on Monday with activists who served in his successful presidential campaign earlier this year and discussed corruption, patriotism and the revival of a Soviet-era title

DEFENSE

* The Russian army is giving up the Gabala radar it leased in Azerbaijan because of a disagreement over rental price, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday

SPORTS

* Russia’s Katusha cycling team has been denied a WorldTour competition license for 2013, the governing UCI body said Monday

CRIME

* Russia’s General Prosecutor said on Monday it had registered more than 1.7 million human rights violations during the first half of 2012, according to a press release posted to its web site

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