RUSSIA

* The Russian Baltic Fleet's frigate Neustrashimy (Fearless) came on Tuesday to the rescue of a drifting fishing boat in the Gulf of Aden flying the Yemeni flag, a Russian Navy spokesman said

* The speaker of the upper house of Russian parliament hailed on Tuesday the acquittal of activists charged with organizing mass riots during the dismantling of a Soviet-era statue in Estonia's capital Tallinn in April 2007

* Gazprom sought to assure jittery Europeans on Tuesday that consumers would not be affected by the ongoing gas row between Russia and Ukraine

* A South African embassy official has been robbed in Moscow's northeast, police said

* Gazprom has reduced deliveries of natural gas for transit through Ukraine to a third of their normal rate, which would affect Western European customers, Ukraine's state-run Naftogaz said

WORLD

* Europe has become a hostage to Ukraine's heedless behavior, a first deputy CEO of Russian energy giant Gazprom said

* Israel will continue military operations in the Gaza Strip until it stops Hamas' rocket attacks, the local media quoted on Tuesday premier Ehud Olmert as saying

* Russian gas supplies through Ukraine to Turkey have stopped, the Turkish minister of energy and natural resources said

BUSINESS

* Russian-Ukrainian gas talks will resume January 8, a spokesman for Ukraine's energy company Naftogaz said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a federal law ratifying a convention for the avoidance of double taxation and fiscal evasion between Russia and Brazil, the Kremlin said