TODAY: Guardian reporter refused visa extension; Khodorkovsky whistleblower motives considered;  Sobyanin says no to gay marches; Putin chastises customs officials over rap video; nationalist movement to be banned?  Russia-Italy cooperation on Afghanistan; rapprochement for Orthodox and Catholic churches on the cards? Caucasus violence; military commander suggests Kuril missile plan overkill; mortality rates and climate change

Following deportation and period of uncertainty about his status in Russia, Guardian reporter Luke Harding has learned that his visa will not be renewed, and he now plans to leave the country next week.  Despite describing her words as slander, Judge Viktor Danilkin says he will not sue aide Natalya Vasilyeva over her recent claims that the Khodorkovsky verdict was predecided.  ‘The obvious explanation–that she acted of her own volition because she was disillusioned with the system–seemed too implausible for the conspiracy-laden world of Russian politics’: the Economist considers the underlying reasons for Ms Vasilyeva’s admission.  According to the Other Russia, journalist Oleg Kashin, who was the victim of a brutal beating last November, has written on his blog that investigators apparently believe the motive was the fact that Kashin had ‘stolen‘ the wife of one of the attackers.  Kashin denies this is the case.  Hopes of pride marches for Moscow’s gay community have been dashed by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.  ‘This kind of creativity should be saved for a talent show’: Putin’s words of warning to a group of customs officials who placed a spoof rap video on Youtube portraying a champagne and limousine lifestyle for those in government jobs.  Moscow prosecutors have suspended the activity of the prominent nationalist Movement Against Illegal Immigration, and requested the Moscow City Court to ban it as extremist.