The FINANCIAL -- Europe’s top football clubs will have each pocketed an average of €38.45million for reaching the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League, helping to wipe out winter financial blues, according to new research commissioned by Official Sponsor, MasterCard .

The FINANCIAL -- According to RIA Novosti, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, signed on December 19 a joint action plan to deepen their countries' ties in 2009-2010.

The FINANCIAL -- MINSK, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, currently in MOSCOW on a visit, asked the United States for $5 billion in financial aid, the president told state media in Minsk.

The FINANCIAL -- ABU DHABI, A Bahraini businessman wants to give his personal six-door Mercedes limousine to the journalist in Iraq who threw his shoes at U.S. President George Bush , an Arab newspaper reported on December 19.

The FINANCIAL -- According to RIA Novosti, Russia hopes that the United States will begin a dialogue with Iran after President-elect Barack Obama assumes office, Russia's UN ambassador said.