Results

Russia has assured European Union countries they will face no disruption after it halted gas supplies to Ukraine in a row over unpaid bills and prices.
Russian gas giant Gazprom said it had increased the volume of gas flowing to the EU via the Ukrainian pipe network.
Ukraine has also guaranteed the transit of supplies to the West.
Pipes across Ukraine carry about a fifth of the EU’s gas needs. Ukraine insists it has paid off its debts to Gazprom, but Russia contests this.
The two countries have also failed to agree on a price for 2009.

[Source]

The Sri Lankan military says troops have marched into the northern town of Kilinochchi, considered to be the capital of Tamil Tiger rebels.

The army has been closing in on the headquarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in recent months.

Keheliya Rambukwella, defence ministry spokesman and government minister, on Friday said: “Fall of Kilinochchi soon will be a reality.”

“Troops entered the Kilinochchi town from two places this morning and heavy fighting is going on,” an official at the president’s office said, declining to be named.

“They should be able to establish total control very soon.”

[Source]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp completed its purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co and Wells Fargo & Co finished buying Wachovia Corp, the latest sea changes in a transformed banking industry facing dire economic times ahead.

The Merrill takeover was completed on Thursday, ending more than 94 years of independence for the Wall Street investment bank and brokerage. The Wachovia merger closed on Wednesday, marking the denouement for a lender that started in 1879 with what it deemed a “very adequate” $100,000 of capital.

Bank of America has said it would issue about 1.71 billion common shares to buy Merrill, equal to about $24.1 billion, plus 359,100 preferred shares. The Wachovia merger valued that bank at roughly $12.7 billion.

[Source]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Viacom and Time Warner Cable reached an agreement in principle on Thursday that avoided a blackout that would have prevented more than 13 million U.S. subscribers from seeing popular TV shows like “Dora the Explorer” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

The two sides said in a statement they expected to finalize details of the agreement over the next several days. Viacom wanted Time Warner Cable to pay an extra $35 million to $40 million a year for carrying its cable channels, including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.

Time Warner had refused, saying the economic climate made it impossible to pass along such costs to its customers. Viacom had originally denied Time Warner’s request for an extension of the previous terms to allow talks to continue and had threatened to pull its TV networks from Time Warner unless a deal was reached.

[Source]

A former mayor of Vladikavkaz, in Russia’s troubled North Caucasus, has been shot dead in his car, police say.
Kazbek Pagiyev’s car came under a hail of bullets, killing him and his driver, in Vladikavkaz, the capital of Russia’s republic of North Ossetia.
Mr Pagiyev stood down as deputy prime minister in North Ossetia last week, Russian news agencies report.
He served as mayor until December 2007, when he was replaced by Vitaly Karayev, who was killed by a gunman last month.
Mr Pagiyev had been mayor for five years in North Ossetia, which lies near Chechnya, and has been plagued by gangland and militant violence in recent years.

[Source]

Israel has warned that the onslaught in the Gaza Strip could last for “weeks” as the fourth consecutive day of aerial attacks targeted several Hamas government buildings.

Around 350 people have been killed, many of them civilians, and local hospitals have warned they are unable to cope with any more casualties.

Palestinian medical workers said at least 10 people had died in the latest raids on Tuesday, with security guards and civilians among those killed.

But Israel said there would be no let up until the threat of Palestinian rockets attacks from the Gaza Strip had been removed.

[Source]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration on Monday expanded its bailout of the U.S. auto industry, saying it was buying $5 billion in equity in auto and mortgage finance company GMAC and increasing a loan to General Motors by $1 billion.

The action was the latest in a lengthy series of emergency government moves aimed at easing the worst credit crisis since the 1930s and limiting the severity of a year-long recession.

The Treasury Department said it would buy $5 billion in senior preferred equity with an 8 percent dividend from GMAC as part of an effort to ensure the solvency of a company considered crucial to GM’s survival.

[Source]

Turkish fighter planes have bombed suspected Kurdish separatist positions in northern Iraq.
Turkish military sources said the attacks, which started late on Saturday, targeted members of the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
There was no word on casualties. There has been no official comment from the Turkish armed forces on the raid.
Turkey has stepped up its cross-border operations into Iraq in recent months, amid mounting casualties on both sides.
Turkey has accused Iraq of failing to stop the PKK - who are fighting for greater autonomy in south-eastern Turkey - from using its northern areas as a safe haven.

[Source]

The speaker of Belgium’s parliament has accepted a request from King Albert to form a new government, in an effort to break the country’s political deadlock.
Herman Van Rompuy, a Flemish Christian Democrat, is expected to maintain the existing five-party coalition of the outgoing prime minister, Yves Leterme.
Mr Leterme’s government collapsed 10 days ago, amid allegations about political meddling in a bank bail-out.
The Fortis Bank scandal comes on top of political tensions along ethnic lines.

[Source]

Polls have opened in Bangladesh, in parliamentary election aimed at returning the country to democratic rule after two years under a military-backed government.

Long queues were reported at polling stations from early on Monday morning, with more than 81 million people eligible to vote.

Commentators expect little will separate supporters of the two leading candidates, Sheikh Hasina Wajed of the Awami League and Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

[Source]