Main news of December 30

RUSSIA

* Terminally ill ex-Yukos official Vasily Aleksanyan has been released at 50 million ruble ($1.8 billion) bail, his lawyer said

* One cash courier was killed and another injured by armed robbers in the south of Moscow on Tuesday evening, police said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed into law constitutional amendments extending presidential and parliamentary terms to six and five years, respectively, the Kremlin said

* Gazprom is unsure whether Ukraine will fulfill its commitments on the transit of gas to Europe after January 1, the official spokesman for the Russian energy giant said

* Sea trials of Russia's first Borey-class strategic nuclear submarine have been postponed until spring 2009, a high-ranking Navy source said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has invited U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to launch a joint effort to deal with global problems

* Russia and the United States have signed a new 2009 meat deal, cutting U.S. poultry imports and increasing import duties on poultry and pork supplies above quotas, the Economic Development Ministry said

* The Russian Baltic Fleet's frigate Neustrashimy (Fearless) protected over 50 commercial ships from pirates off the Somali coast in 2008, a Russian Navy spokesman said

WORLD

* Ukraine will pay its natural gas debt to Russia within the next few hours, the country's national oil and gas company Naftogaz said

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke by phone on Tuesday, calling for an end to the violence in the Gaza Strip, the Russian Foreign Ministry said

* Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip is only at an early stage and there are no plans to stop it, the prime minister said on Tuesday during a meeting with the country's president

* At least 13 Palestinians were killed and 40 wounded overnight as Israel continued to carry out airstrikes on Gaza overnight bringing the death toll to 363, a Palestinian emergencies official said

BUSINESS

* Russia's GDP grew 1.6% in November, but dropped by 0.7% when adjusted for seasonal factors, the Economic Development Ministry said

* Gazprom has set up a special action group to begin preparations to halt gas supplies to Ukraine if the former Soviet state fails to repay its outstanding debt, the Russian energy giant's CEO said

* Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Tuesday its first-half yearly consolidated profit under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) attributable to equity holders rose 80%, year-on-year, to 573.76 bln rubles ($19.6 bln)