Main News of December 8

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Several hundred thousand people gathered in the Ukrainian capital Sunday for one of the largest protest rallies in the former Soviet nation’s history, throwing down the gauntlet to a government that has resisted calls for negotiation with the opposition

* Experts from the UN nuclear watchdog have started inspections at Iran's heavy-water reactor under construction at Arak, the ISNA news agency reported

BUSINESS

* Russia’s Central Bank said Sunday it cannot warn banks of a possible license revocation beforehand because there is a risk that some banks would try to move out their assets

SPORTS

* Russia got off to the best-possible start to the team event in cross-country skiing's World Cup on Sunday with victory in Lillehammer, Norway

SCIENCE

* A Russian Proton-M carrier rocket with a British telecoms satellite blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Sunday, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said