Reykjavik - Cash-strapped Iceland was set to allow its currency to float as soon as the country secures new loans, Prime Minister Geir Haarde said Thursday in parliament.

Haarde further said the cost of the collapse of the North Atlantic nation's banks may total the equivalent of some 9.4 billion dollars or "85 per cent of GDP" last year.

A week ago, Reykjavik signed a 2.1-billion-dollar emergency loan with the International Monetary Fund to help stabilize Iceland's economy.

Washington - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads to the Middle East next week for discussions on the peace process with Israeli and Palestinian officials, the State Department said Thursday.

Rice will travel to the region on Wednesday, one day after the US presidential election, for meetings in Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt during the five-day trip, spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Prague - The Czech Republic should not set a target for switching to the euro at a time of global financial meltdown, the country's central bank governor said Thursday.

"At a time when waters are raging not even a good swimmer would jump in," said Czech National Bank Governor Zdenek Tuma.

Speaking before parliament's upper house, Tuma said the country should not fix its currency, the Czech koruna, in the pre-entry exchange rate mechanism when financial markets and exchange rates are highly unpredictable.

Kiev - Ripples from the world financial crisis have shut down most Ukrainian preparation work for the Euro 2012 football championship, government officials said Thursday.

As much as 80 per cent of the infrastructure projects needed in the former Soviet republic to host the premier sports event have come to a complete stop for lack of funding or because of administrative difficulties, said Evhen Vilinsky, a spokesman for Ukraine's Euro 2012 preparation ministry.

New York - Lebanon and Syria have moved to fully implement a UN Security Council resolution to end decades of conflicts by establishing diplomatic ties, a UN special envoy in the Middle East said Thursday.

The council asked in 2004 that Syria end its interference, both military and political, in Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Syria ended the military occupation in
2005 following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Berlin - A female legislator from the sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats was picked Thursday to become Germany's new minister of agriculture and consumer affairs.

Ilse Aigner, 43, was nominated by Horst Seehofer, who resigned from the post on Monday to become prime minister of the southern state of Bavaria.

"I'm very pleased," said Aigner, who like Seehofer hails from Bavaria and is a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU).