Brussels - The European Union on Wednesday launched talks with Ukraine on allowing Ukrainian citizens to travel to the EU without visas, with Kiev targeting a result before 2012.

"This is a very important event in Ukraine-EU relations. ... For us it's absolutely clear that this should be done not in decades but in years: it's essentially important to finish this process before 2012," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ogryzko said.

Moscow - The vice president of Lukoil, Russia's largest private oil major, said Wednesday it may be best for Russia to join OPEC in production cuts to bolster oil prices slumping amid the financial turmoil.

Leonid Fedun said joining OPEC could be "only good for Russia."

His comments surprised the industry Wednesday. Previous attempts for Moscow to align its policy with OPEC fell through when private energy firms, like Lukoil, increased oil deliveries, analysts said.

Frankfurt - Luxury carmaker Porsche released some of the price pressure on Volkswagen stock Wednesday, announcing in Stuttgart it would unwind futures contracts on up to 5 per cent of Volkswagen AG voting stock.

At the same time it affirmed its ultimate intention to buy "up to 75 per cent" of Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker.

The extraordinary tripling in the Volkswagen price in the space of Monday and Tuesday caught out many hedge funds who were forced to pay vast amounts for the scarce stock to settle short-selling deals.

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed Wednesday "deep sadness" at the deaths and destruction caused by an earthquake in Pakistan's Baluchistan region, and offered UN assistance for the victims and families.

A spokesperson said Ban extended "his deepest condolences to the families of those who have been killed, injured or made homeless by the earthquake."

"The UN stands ready to lend its assistance to efforts to respond to humanitarian needs created by the disaster, including by using existing resources and providing grants from emergency funds, and to mobilize international support for that response, if required," Ban said.