WORLD
* A search and rescue operation launched off the coast of north Wales after a cargo vessel with Russian sailors on board sank in the Irish Sea has ended in failure
* Syria is ready to accept Russia’s role as intermediary in the settlement of the current political crisis in the country, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said
* Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said he had ordered that conditions for jailed ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko be maintained “at a European level”
* The Kuwaiti government resigned
* With official results of South Ossetia’s November 27 runoff presidential election yet to be announced, the two participants of the race on Monday both claimed victory, local media said
RUSSIA
* The Kremlin’s Human Rights Council will set up a contact group with Russia’s Investigation Committee to monitor the investigation into the death of Hermitage Capital auditor Sergei Magnitsky
* A member of the United Russia party in the southern Russian city of Samara, Alexander Aladin, left the party with a scandal and put his membership card up for an auction in the internet for one ruble (three cents), Russian news agency Novy Region reported
* Nearly 3 million faithful venerated a relic of the Virgin Mary that was exhibited in a number of Russian cities
* Hermitage Capital investment fund released an in-depth and documented report accusing Russian officials of the false arrest, torture and pre-trial death of its auditor Sergei Magnitsky and the subsequent cover-up by Russian officials
SCIENCE
* Russia sent another Glonass-M navigation satellite into orbit on Monday, said Alexei Zolotukhin, spokesman of Russian Space Forces
DEFENSE
* The test launch of Russia’s Bulava ballistic missile has been postponed until a later date, a source in the Defense Ministry said