Kiev - The Ukrainian government worsened official predictions for the economy on Wednesday, halving expected annual GDP growth for 2009 to between 3 and 4 per cent.

The former Soviet republic's economy already has moved into a full recession, with GDP contracting 2 per cent during December alone, and annual inflation standing at 21 per cent, a Ministry of Economy official said.

Ukraine's Ministry of Economy as recently as June had been estimating that the country would over the course of 2008 see 7 per cent annual GDP growth, and 15 per cent inflation.

Kiev - Bad weather forced Greek football side Olympiakos to make an unscheduled landing and an unplanned 500-kilometre journey by bus ahead of a UEFA Cup match on Wednesday, Korrespondent magazine reported Tuesday.

The Athens club had been en route to the city Kharkiv to play Metalist when fog closed in on the east Ukrainian city's airport.

Olympiakos players and staff landed at the main airport of the Ukrainian capital Kiev in the early afternoon and, after delays, continued on to Kharkiv by hired bus.

Brussels  - Despite intense lobbying, Georgia and Ukraine look certain not to be offered a fast track towards NATO membership when alliance foreign ministers meet on Tuesday to discuss their membership hopes, diplomats said.

"There does not need at this point in time to be any discussion of a membership action plan (MAP) ... Georgia and Ukraine are not ready for membership. That is very clear," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday.

Washington  - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice backed off plans to offer Georgia and Ukraine a formal roadmap for joining NATO, but said the United States is still committed to bringing the two countries into the alliance.

Rice is due to arrive in Brussels next week for a conference of NATO foreign minister December 2-3. She does not plan to push for quickly offering the former Soviet states a so-called membership action plan, which would place them on course to join NATO.

"Georgia and Ukraine are not ready for membership. That is very clear," Rice said, referring to the benchmarks countries must meet to enter NATO. "There does not need at this point in time to be any discussion of a" membership action plan.

Kiev - Somali pirates holding the crew of a Ukrainian cargo ship loaded with tanks and munitions reduced their ransom demand to a cut-rate three million dollars, Sehodnia newspaper reported Wednesday.

The seventeen officers and crew of the MV Faina, carrying an arms shipment from Ukraine to Kenya, have been in pirate custody since September. The vessel was anchored near the Somali port Hobyo at last report.