Budget Bill No. 3000 on the whole was supported by 226 votes, the minimal number required for adoption.

PR-inside.com) GRAND BLANC, Michigan (AP) - The financing arm of General Motors Corp. still would not say on Saturday if it had met a midnight deadline to clear a final hurdle in its bid to become a bank holding company

PR-inside.com) QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - President Rafael Correa has announced Ecuador will suspend oil production by Italy's Agip and reduce quotas for other companies to comply with new OPEC cuts. Correa said on Saturday that he has ordered Ecuador's oil

PR-inside.com) ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's parliament on Saturday reduced the budget allocations of most ministries by up to 16 percent to cut overall spending as the country seeks a loan deal with the International Monetary Fund. Parliament voted 324-117

PR-inside.com) QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - Ecuador is looking to buy back its bonds at a steep discount after defaulting on part of its foreign debt. President Rafael Correa says Ecuador may attempt to buy back its foreign debt in January,

PR-inside.com) GRAND BLANC, Michigan (AP) - Even after a crucial deadline came and went, the financing arm of General Motors Corp. remained silent Saturday on whether it had cleared a final hurdle to become a bank holding company and gain

PR-inside.com) LONDON (AP) - About 200 Woolworths stores in Britain have shut their doors for good. The stores that closed Saturday represent about a quarter of the company's shops. The rest of the stores are to close within about a

PR-inside.com) LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - Bolivian miners are threatening to take over several mines to protest their firing. Union leader Roberto Chavez says mining companies made huge profits as metal prices soared, and shouldn't punish workers as prices now

PR-inside.com) CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela will seize several gold mining concessions that previous governments granted private operators, in a bid to supplement falling oil prices with proceeds from state-controlled gold, President Hugo Chavez said Saturday. Chavez named no specific

PR-inside.com) HAVANA (AP) - President Raul Castro said Saturday that Cuba's state finances simply don't add up and announced cost-cutting measures as the island posted an annual economic growth of 4.3 percent for the year, barely half the original government

PR-inside.com) TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) - Hospital across the U.S. are being squeezed by tight credit, higher borrowing costs, investment losses and a jump in patients _ many recently unemployed or otherwise underinsured _ not paying their bills. All that

MOSCOW, December 27 (RIA Novosti) - Inflation in Russia in 2008 could total 13.5-13.8%, the finance minister said Saturday. Alexei Kudrin, who is also a deputy prime minister, told the Vesti TV channel that inflation in 2009 could slow down

MOSCOW, December 27 (RIA Novosti) - The price Belarus pays for gas in 2009 will be lower than specified in the initial contract due to falling world energy prices, a spokesman for Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Saturday. Belarusian

MOSCOW, December 27 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom hopes to find a way to resolve Ukraine's gas debt by the end of the year, the Russian energy giant's spokesman said Saturday on Ekho Moskvy radio. "In the remaining days we expect

MOSCOW, December 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will have a budget deficit of 1.5-2 trillion rubles ($52-$70 billion) in 2009, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Saturday. "In 2009, the budget will have a deficit of 1.5 to 2 trillion rubles,