Bangkok- Thai shares slipped 3.01 in va

Hanoi - A court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced a Mennonite Christian pastor to three years in prison Thursday for failing to repay debts owed by the company of her late first husband.

Nguyen Thi Hong, 48, had been in jail awaiting trial since her arrest in November 2007. Her second husband is the pastor, lawyer and social activist Nguyen Hong Quang, head of the Mennonite church in Vietnam.

After holding Hong for 14 months, authorities Thursday tried her for failing to repay two debts incurred in 1999 by the company of her late first husband, who died in 2003. The debts totaled 25,000 dollars.

Berlin - The gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine demonstrates to the world the need to diversify energy supplies, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Thursday.

Events of recent weeks showed how a commercial dispute could impact across Europe, Brown told a news conference after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

Merkel urged Russia and Ukraine to return to the negotiating table and resolve their differences so that gas supplies could be resumed as quickly as possible.

Portimao, Portugal - Ivory Coast defender Arthur Boka has renewed his contract at VfB Stuttgart until 2012, the German Bundesliga club said on Thursday.

New Delhi - The Mumbai terrorist attack was a test of India's patience and the army was ready to face any challenge posed by terrorism, Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor said Thursday.

"The attack on Mumbai was a test of our patience ... The only and biggest challenge before us is terrorism and we are ready to face this challenge," Kapoor was quoted at saying at 61st anniversary celebrations of the Indian Army's raising day

Chicago, January 15 : While Barack Obama and his family are struggling to decide which dog to own, a dog breeder is advising them to wait for a while.

The U. S. President-elect recently revealed that his family would either own a Labradoodle or a Portuguese water dog.

His statement led to a debate whether the Obamas are ready for a new dog amid all the changes in their lives.

Dog breeders say that if the family chooses a Portuguese water dog, the animal will demand attention.