New York  - The continued fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants has become the "biggest challenge" to the political talks aimed at resolving the conflict, the United Nations said Tuesday.

"Recent developments in the occupied Palestinian territories and in Israel underscores that the gap between the political tracks and the situation on the ground remain large, posing considerable obstacles in the path that lies ahead," UN Undersecretary General for Political Affairs B Lynn Pascoe said.

Rio de Janeiro  - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev started Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro a two-day official visit to Brazil that includes a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

According to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, Lula and Medvedev were set to discuss current bilateral projects during their meeting Wednesday.

They planned to analyse "the expansion of reciprocal investment, including Russia's interest in taking part in infrastructure projects in Brazil in the areas of railways, hydroelectric plants, nuclear energy and gas and oil pipelines."

Washington  - The US Federal Reserve and Treasury Department on Tuesday announced two new programmes that will pump an additional 800 billion dollars into the struggling economy and unfreeze credit for consumers and small businesses.

This second stimulus follows the 700-billion-dollar rescue package already approved by Congress. Under one of the two new programmes, the Fed will use 600 billion dollars to buy mortgage-backed securities to reduce the cost of home mortgages.

Vienna  - The Toro Rosso Formula One team is now completely owned by the Red Bull drinks company after the Austrian firm confirmed Tuesday that it has bought out former F1 driver Gerhard Berger's 50-per-cent share in the team.

"I am very grateful to Gerhard for his huge input," said Dietrich Mateschitz, head of the Red Bull Racing team.

"Together we made Toro Rosso into a team that qualified on a regular basis in the top 10 and collected world championship points."

The team also secured its first F1 win thanks to Sebastian Vettel's victory at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

Hamburg  - The German Bundesliga is making more money from jersey sponsorship than another other football league in Europe, the European Jersey Report
2008/09 survey carried by the market research group Sport und Markt and released Tuesday has revealed.

The 18 clubs in Germany's top flight reaped a total of 102.9 million euros (130.5 million dollars) for the current season from jersey sponsorship, the first time the Bundesliga has broken through the 100-million-euro barrier.