Jowzjan authorities said" the food aid provided by the government and donors countries for winter provisions isnot enough and must be continued".

Russia started pumping gas destined for Europe through Ukraine on Tuesday for the first time in nearly a week, but the European Union said little or no gas was flowing.

Sony faces an operating loss of $1.1 billion this year, a reversal of a previous $2 billion profit forecast, a source told Reuters Tuesday.

President Bush has asked Congress to release the remaining $350bn (£236bn) of US financial bail-out funds after a request from Barack Obama.

Russia says it will resume pumping gas through Ukraine to Europe, under a monitoring deal to end a dispute over transit.

The bureau of UN in Afghanistan estimates that the mine cleaning program cost five hundreds million dollars till 2013. "Afghanistan belongs to otavo convention .

Russian and EU officials on Saturday signed an agreement on the terms for verification of the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine.

Russian energy giant Gazprom halted on Wednesday gas supplies to Ukraine for transit to Europe.

A similar gas row briefly disrupted supplies to Europe three years ago

The blockage of trade big road of tourkham has reduced the custom tax rate to zero." officials said.

Kupriyanov said that Naftogaz was avoiding talks with Gazprom on a new gas contract for 2009.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has signed into law the national budget for 2009.

The latest slide to a new record low saw the pound worth just 1.022 euros, representing a fall of 13 percent during December alone.

China has said it is to allow some trade with its neighbours to be settled with its currency, the yuan.

Gas exporting countries on Tuesday finalised the creation of a new forum with a charter aimed at coordinating gas policy.

The era of cheap gas is coming to an end, Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has told ministers from the world's major gas-exporting countries.

Two helicopters and special operations forces will also head to the region, the Chinese officials said.

U.S. military operations, including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, have cost $904 billion since 2001 and could top $1.7 trillion by 2018.

Barack Obama has named physics Nobel Prize winner Steven Chu as his energy secretary .