Washington  - The US Senate began the first of a series of confirmation hearings on Thursday for president-elect Barack Obama's cabinet nominees.

The Senate committee for healthcare took up former senator Tom Daschle's nomination to become secretary of the Health and Human Services Department.

Obama has pledged to broadly reform healthcare and to extend coverage to Americans who cannot afford or currently do not have a medical insurance plan.

Bratislava  - Slovakia Thursday faced a blackout owing to Russia's move to shut down natural gas supplies arriving to western Europe via Ukraine, Prime Minister Robert Fico said.

Speaking after meeting his Czech, Hungarian and Polish counterparts and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Fico said that Slovakia was worst-hit in central Europe.

He said that the country had gas supplies for 10 days and was facing a blackout as part of its electricity came from gas.

Brussels/Moscow  - The row over Russia's cut-off of gas supplies to the European Union via Ukraine hit a new chill Thursday after all-day talks in Brussels ended in mutual recriminations.

The failure by EU, Russian and Ukrainian officials to seal a deal leaves many European countries facing the prospect of gas shortages at the height of winter.

Discussions in Brussels focused on convincing Russia to renew its gas deliveries through its neighbour to Europe in return for an EU mission aimed at making sure the gas is not stolen en route, as claimed by Moscow.

Mexico City  - Mexico's inflation rate was 6.53 per cent in 2008, its highest in eight seven years, the Mexican Central Bank said Thursday.

In 2000, Mexico recorded an annual inflation rate of 8.96 per cent. In 2007, it was 3.76 per cent, closer to the country's long- term goal of 3 per cent per year.

The forecast for the new year remained grim as the country's economy would not grow in 2009, the Finance Ministry warned. With its close economic ties to the United States, the Mexican economy is also suffering the impact of the global financial crisis.

New York  - Western nations and high-ranking Arab government officials held closed-door discussions at United Nations headquarters Thursday to try and reach a consensus on the text of a ceasefire to end the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The two sides remained divided on a technical procedure: Western governments preferred a statement from the UN Security Council's French president, while the Arab governments called for the adoption of a formal and binding resolution to end the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Moscow - President Dmitry Medvedev told his counterpart in Bulgaria, which is almost entirely reliant on Russian gas, Moscow was ready to reopen gas flow to Europe via Ukraine as soon as a new contracts with Kiev for gas in 2009, the Kremlin said Thursday.

"The president underlined that Russia is ready to carry out its obligations and renew transits of gas after the conclusion of the necessary contract with Ukraine," the Kremlin said in a statement posted on its website after Medvedev and Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov spoke by phone.