* Health officials said the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus that is extremely dangerous for humans has been found in 11 villages in Ukraine
* A senior official with the Russian energy giant Gazprom said Russia would not supply Ukraine with natural gas at its original target price of $160 per 1,000 cu m, but will charge $220-230 instead
* Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Russia had not yet received a demand from Ukraine for higher lease rates for the Black Sea Fleet base in the Crimea, a Ukrainian autonomy on the Black Sea
* The Uzbek Supreme Court said the trial of Andijan officials responsible for security when riots broke out in May in the Uzbek city would begin Wednesday
* Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that a higher price for Russian natural gas supplied to Ukraine was a justified measure
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russian gas might soon be supplied to Ukraine at market prices
* President Viktor Yushchenko said Ukraine was ready to raise transit fees for Russian natural gas deliveries via its territory in 2006
* Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a law to ratify an agreement on a single export control procedure for member states of the Eurasian Economic Community (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan)
* The Georgian presidential envoy for conflict resolution said UN-sponsored talks between Georgia and its self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia set for late December had been postponed until January
* Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he hoped Russia and Ukraine would settle their disagreements on natural gas deliveries within a few weeks
* Gazprom said it planned in the near future to sign a contract with Azerbaijan to supply Russian natural gas to the former Soviet republic at European prices
* Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will visit Russia on December 15 at Vladimir Putin's invitation, the Kremlin press service said
* Ukraine will hold its first tender for the Kerch sector of the Black Sea shelf for further development of hydrocarbon deposits, the Ukrainian government said
* A well-known Polish TV journalist who was detained by Belarusian authorities at an airport in the country's capital Tuesday has returned to Warsaw
