Russia’s natural gas monopoly warned Belarus today not to siphon gas from the main pipeline leading across its territory to Europe if it goes ahead with a threatened supply cut-off on New Year’s Day.

Ruhrgas AG, Germany's largest gas provider, is to pay roughly €400m for ABB Metering, a unit of ABB Ltd, reported tomorrow's edition of the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, citing stock market sources.