UKRAINE

Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc said on Tuesday it plans to open 180 dual-branded Wendy's and Arby's restaurants in Russia over the next ten years.

Drought-devastated Russia could extend a grain export ban into next year and may cut its 2010 beet sugar output, reflecting the dimming prospects for crops in the scorched Black Sea bread basket region.

Exporters canceled major contracts of drought-hit Black Sea wheat to Bangladesh on Monday, signaling the need for Asian millers to scramble for supplies from other key growers like Australia.

U.S. wheat futures fell 4.3 percent on Monday, extending their losses to nearly 12 percent in two sessions as traders take profits from a near-doubling in prices in just over a month. With a key U.S. Department of Agriculture stocks and production report out on Thursday and the impact of a Russian decision last week to ban exports still to be felt, the market looks set for another volatile week.

Russia´s ban on grain exports caused a buying frenzy on global grain markets, driving prices up sharply under record high volumes.

Global wheat prices are expected to remain higher due to lower output forecast by International Grain Council (IGC) and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). IGC has revised the global wheat forecast lower by 1.9% for the 2010-11 to 651 million metric tons due to the output losses in parts of Black Sea regions, such as EU and Canada.

Adverse weather conditions in major wheat producing regions prompted International Grains Council to trim estimates by 13 million tones this year. According to its latest report, the IGC also trimmed its forecast for world corn production, lowering its forecast for inventories of the grain to a four-year low.

Ukraine's parliament on Thursday approved budget cuts bringing the deficit in line with the International Monetary Fund's requirements after brief resistance from the Communist allies of the government.

An International Monetary Fund mission said on Saturday it had agreed to recommend a loan of $14.9 billion for Ukraine in a deal to help fill the country's budget gap and boost investor confidence.

Ukraine came closer on Saturday to winning a bailout from the International Monetary Fund as an IMF mission said it would recommend lending $14.9 billion in a deal to help fill Ukraine's budget gap and boost investor confidence.

Belarus said it was sending a delegation to Moscow on Sunday for eleventh-hour emergency talks with Russian gas giant Gazprom after Gazprom threatened to cut supplies over an unresolved price row. Russia has said it will cut 85 percent of gas supplies from Monday to Belarus if its ex-Soviet neighbor fails to pay $192 million in debts to Gazprom --- money Belarus denies it owes.

It was after 1 a.m. on Monday May 10 when a little-known Dutch civil servant made the suggestion that may have saved the euro. European finance ministers had come together in Brussels late on the Sunday afternoon to thrash out a rescue package to stabilize the common currency. Unconvinced by a 110 billion euro deal for debt-laden Greece eight days earlier, the markets had knocked the euro 4 percen...

Russia and Ukraine have decided to cooperate in oil and gas sector by allowing swap assets with each other. Speaking to newsmen here after meeting Russian president Vladimir Putin, Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych said, We could swap some assets with Russia to cooperate in oil and gas production in Russia,

Josephine Jimenez has a chunk of money to invest and she is hunting for opportunities in the usual places -- Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Sri Lanka, among others. Jimenez is a specialist in so-called frontier markets. She stacked up a million air miles long ago.

World's largest wheat exporter, the US is likely to lose its position to Black Sea states, warned US Department of Agriculture. According to a report from the USDA, Black Sea states of Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine look set to raise wheat exports by one half to more than 50m tonnes by the end of the decade, overtaking US for the first time since second World War.

World crude steel production for the 66 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 122 million metric tons (mmt) in April. This is 35.7% higher than April 2009.China's crude steel production for April 2010 was 55.4 mmt, an increase of 27% compared to April 2009. It is the highest amount of crude steel China has ever produced in a single month.

Russia said Tuesday, the possible merger of the Russian energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz has no bearing on the South Stream project. Russian Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko said, We do not relate these two issues. South Stream is an issue of principle for us, a strategic entry to direct supplies for European buyers.

Ukraine said it will press for changes in the natural gas price formula fixed by Russia's Gazprom and its Naftohaz Ukrainy national oil and gas company. Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said here, We have agreed that we will work on this, since the formula does not satisfy us.

Switzerland's economy minister said she hoped parliament would not link a deal between UBS and the United States on disclosing secret bank accounts with questions such as bankers' bonuses, the newspaper Sonntag reported on Sunday.

Switzerland's economy minister said she hoped parliament would not link a deal between UBS and the United States on disclosing secret bank accounts with questions such as bankers' bonuses, a paper reported on Sunday.

Philip Morris International , which sells Marlboro cigarettes and other brands internationally, posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit, hurt by a tax increases and a weak economy in parts of Europe.