The FINANCIAL -- According to RIA Novosti, the British Council has dismissed all employees at its St. Petersburg office, more than two weeks after the office closed on orders from Russian authorities, a spokesman said on February 4.

The FINANCIAL -- JERUSALEM, A suicide bomber on February 4 blew himself up in the southern town that houses Israel's secretive nuclear reactor, killing at least three other people and wounding five, Israeli rescue officials said.

The FINANCIAL -- COLOMBO, A powerful roadside bomb killed at least one soldier and wounded three others in a town in southern Sri Lanka on February 4 as the country marked 60 years of independence, police said.

The FINANCIAL -- According to RIA Novosti, the Moscow City Court has upheld a lower court's verdict for tycoon Boris Berezovsky, found guilty of embezzling over 214 million rubles from flagship air carrier Aeroflot and sentenced to six years' imprisonment.