Since the bank lending has remained tight in the recent times, the sales of India's passenger car segment in domestic market declined for the fifth time in the last six months in December. The major reason was the slow economy which forced consumers not to purchase the new vehicles.

There was decline of 7% to 82,105 units in December in car sales from 88,272 sold in the same month last year.

The Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said on Monday, "Total automobile sales were down 18.2% at 597,622 units while exports grew by 33% to 138,258 units."

Brussels/Moscow/Kiev  - Russia should resume gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday, European Union officials and representatives from Russian state-owned gas monopolist Gazprom said Monday after a deal appeared to have been sealed in Brussels.

"If there aren't any obstacles ... gas transits can be renewed already tomorrow, at 8.00 am European time (0700 GMT)," Gazprom deputy chief Alexander Medvedev said during a visit to Brussels.

Since the Chinese authorities cracked down on online porn over the weekend, it shut down nearly 50 additional websites and also instructed Internet giants like Google to end any sort of links with such material.

It should be noted that as a part of a month-long campaign, that the government informs is aimed at stamping out online pornography, a total number of 91 sites have been shut down or blocked since Thursday.

Brussels  - The European Union has not tried hard enough to wean itself from its dependency on Russian gas, and now it faces a tough struggle to restore its security.

That was the verdict of industry experts on Monday as EU leaders waited to see whether the Kremlin's latest promise to have the gas flowing to Europe by the morning would bear fruit.

Zurich - The reigning women's Footballer of the Year Marta on Monday confirmed that she would be leaving her Swedish club Umea IK to move to the US.

The 22-year-old Brazilian confirmed at a press conference in Zurich that she would be joining the Los Angeles Lakers on a three- year contract. "It is a fantastic project and it will be the best league in the world."

The reporters on Monday were informed by an oil ministry official on the sidelines of the Petrotech conference that ONGC Videsh is close to buying a stake of up to 40 percent in the Satpayev block in Kazakhstan.

The deal has yet not been finalized. It was further revealed by reliable sources that during a visit to India by Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the next few weeks, the deal might be signed.