WORLD
* China urged the United States to reverse its decision to sell arms to Taiwan, Xinhua reported
* Iran"s top security official said regional security was interdependent and key to regional development
* Ukraine’s electoral commission has registered 1,583 foreign observers who will monitor the January 17 presidential election, Kyiv Post reported
* The Italian government has set up a task force after two days of rioting by African immigrants following a shooting incident in the Calabrian town of Rosarno, ANSA reported
* A send-off ceremony for Armenian peacekeepers in Afghanistan was held in Yerevan
RUSSIA
* The bodies of another three mountaineers caught in an avalanche in the Russian North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria have been found, an emergency services spokesman said
* Russia"s Air Force will develop a civil aviation safety program that should halve the number of air accidents, the Defense Ministry said