MOSCOW. Belarus gas negotiator hopes for a last-minute deal. Belarus?s top gas negotiator flew into Moscow yesterday, raising hopes of a last-minute deal in a pricing dispute that threatens to disrupt Russian gas supplies to Europe from New Year?s Day. Russia?s gas monopoly Gazprom has said it will cut gas supplies to Belarus from 07:00 GMT on January 1 if no deal is reached, while Minsk said it would retaliate by halting flows of Russian gas crossing the country bound for Western Europe. About 20 percent of Russian gas exports to Europe go through Belarus. A similar dispute between Gazprom and Ukraine a year ago briefly disrupted supplies to Europe and raised questions about Moscow?s reliability as an energy supplier. Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told Reuters Belarus?s First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko, who has led talks with the Russian company, had arrived in Moscow. Until now the two sides had been communicating by fax, and it was understood Semashko would only travel to Moscow in person if there was a real chance of signing a deal.

CHINA. A year of living diplomatically. China gave itself a pat on the back yesterday for its work in 2006 trying to resolve the Iranian and North Korean nuclear crises and said it was a good friend to the world. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said China?s path of harmonious development was to develop China through safeguarding world peace. ?In the past year, China has played a constructive role in many major international and regional issues, such as the Korean peninsular nuclear issue and the Iranian nuclear issue,? Li said in an interview with Xinhua news agency. ?China has proved through action that she is a good friend and partner of the world people.?

CUBA. Castro sends New Year?s message. In a New Year?s message, ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said he was recovering slowly from abdominal surgery and thanked his people for their courage during his recuperation. ?Concerning my recovery I always said it would be a long process, but it?s far from being a lost battle,? said Castro?s message, which was read out on state-run radio stations. ?I have not stopped being informed of the most important information and events. I discuss them with my closest comrades when cooperation on vital matters is called for.? The 80-year-old Cuban leader praised Cubans ?maturity and calm? in recent months and took a swipe at ?global imperialism? for consuming the world?s resources and destroying the environment, before wishing Cubans a happy New Year. Castro has not appeared in public since July, when he had surgery for a condition that is being treated as a state secret. He temporarily handed power to his younger brother Raul Castro, Cuba?s veteran defense minister.

SPAIN. New twins makes world?s oldest mum at 67.A 67-year-old Spanish woman became the world?s oldest new mother on Saturday when she gave birth to twins, a Barcelona hospital said.The woman, who became pregnant after receiving IVF treatment in Latin America, gave birth by caesarean section, a spokeswoman at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i San Pau told Reuters. Both the woman, from the southern Spanish region of Andalucia, and babies were in good health, the hospital said, although the new-borns had been placed in an incubator.The unidentified woman, who was giving birth for the first time, is one year older than Romanian Adriana Iliescu who had a baby girl in January 2005 at the age of 66. She had been pregnant with twins, but one died in the womb.The hospital declined to give the woman?s name or specify the sex of the babies.The new mother will spend at least another four or five days in the hospital, which has a unit specializing in high-risk births, the spokeswoman said.

LONDON. More gales on the way after hotel loses roof. More gales expected to hit the north of London could have cancelled New Year Eve?s celebrations after strong winds blew off part of a hotel roof and a woman died when a tree fell on a caravan. Part of a hotel roof in Suffolk was blown off on Saturday afternoon, hours after a young woman was killed when a tree blown over by gales fell onto a caravan in Staffordshire.Severe damage was caused when high winds tore off part of the roof at the newly opened Days Inn hotel in Haverhill, but no guests were injured. ?We are closed while contractors look at what has to be done. We only opened yesterday for the first time,? a hotel staff member said.Met Office forecasters said yesterday they expected stormy weather across much of the country, with gusts of wind up to 80 mph in the worst affected areas and bouts of heavy rain.The worst weather will hit northern Britain, and Liverpool city council has already cancelled a municipal firework display.There are also doubts over whether the traditional Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh will go ahead as planned. In 2003 up to 100 000 people who had gathered in the Scottish capital were disappointed when the celebrations were called off just one hour before midnight because of bad weather.In London a 10-minute firework display, still set to go ahead, more than 200 000 people expected to pack the city centre.