The FINANCIAL -- A criminal expert has gone on trial in Ukraine accused of raping and murdering dozens of young women and girls over a period of 25 years, prosecutors said on December 14, AP reports.

The FINANCIAL -- Armenia and Ukraine have banned Russian poultry imports following a bird flu outbreak at a poultry farm in the Rostov Region, south Russia, local officials said on December 17, according to RIA Novosti.

The FINANCIAL -- Russian energy giant Gazprom warned on December 16 of a risk of "tensions" with Ukraine`s future government, two days before a vote in the Ukrainian parliament on pro-Western Yulia Tymoshenko for prime minister, according to RIA Novosti.

The FINANCIAL -- According to an UNIAN, president Victor Yushchenko approved decisions made by Verkhovna Rada regarding modification of voting procedure on Prime Minister, according to the President`s press-office. He also considers such modifications  defensible as parliamentary majority reported malfunction of “Rada”