Main news of December 31

WORLD

* Ukraine's Naftogaz said  it could start confiscating Russian natural gas meant for European consumers after January 1 if no new contract is agreed for 2009

* At least 7 Palestinians were killed as Israeli military aircraft and helicopters continued their attacks on Gaza bringing the death toll to 387, Palestinian health officials said
* Israel will continue its military operations in the Gaza Strip but has not ruled out a possible diplomatic solution in the future, the country's prime minister announced
* Israel considers all international proposals on a ceasefire in Gaza unrealistic and insists that Palestinian militants should stop attacks first, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said
* Space Adventures, a U.S.-based company that organizes private space flights under an arrangement with Russia's space agency, published a price list for "space services" on its website

* Spain has extradited to Russia a suspected Chechen militant who was arrested in the country in 2006, a spokeswoman for the Russian General Prosecutor's Office said

 

RUSSIA

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*  Russia' s president and prime minister discussed the situation regarding last-ditch gas talks between Gazprom and Ukraine as Kiev rejected a new offer of $250 per cu m in 2009
* The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Union of inaction on Georgia's gas cutoff for its breakaway Republic of South Ossetia
* Russia's penitentiary authorities confirmed the release of terminally ill ex-Yukos official Vasily Aleksanyan on a 50 million ruble ($1.8 billion) bail

* A real estate agency director has been robbed of 1.4 million rubles ($47,650) in a traffic accident in central St. Petersburg, a police source in Russia's second largest city said