Vienna - The World Bank Group has launched a new office in Vienna on Tuesday to help a wider range of countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia attract direct foreign investment.

Expanding its previous work in Vienna that was focused on the West Balkan region, the World Bank's investment climate advisory service FIAS is expanding to countries such as the Ukraine and Armenia, programme coordinator Margit Mischkulnig said.

"It's going deeper and wider," she said.

Strasbourg, France - European Union governments should take over strategic industries which have been hit by the global financial crisis to keep them out of foreign hands, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told the European Parliament on Tuesday.

"Stock exchanges are at historically low levels. I wouldn't like European citizens to wake up in a few months' time and realize that European companies belong to non-European capitals," Sarkozy told the parliament as the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency.

Mumbai, Oct 21 : Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray would spend the night in jail, following the denial of bail by the Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate court, in connection with the attack on Railway board examination centres.

The MNS chief was sent to judicial custody till November 4 on Tuesday.

Special Public Prosecutor Majid Memon said, “Thackeray would probably spend the night in jail.”

New Delhi, Oct 21: Deccan Aviation Limited has been directed by the State Consumer Commission to pay a passenger Rs 30,000 as compensation for putting him into inconvenience by abruptly cancelling its Kullu-Delhi flight for four days at a stretch.

The Commission said that the airlines-service provider was responsible to keep the flights in perfect order and not to put the passengers in unnecessary inconvenience and mental stress by keeping them waiting or sending them back as they might be having some urgent business engagements or assignments.

Onboard Air India One, Oct 21 : On the eve of dialogue between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso, New Delhi has blamed Tokyo for deferring the implementation of comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) that can prove to be a shot in the arm for the bilateral trade between the two countries.

The current trade between the two countries stands at 10 billion dollars and is expected to reach 15 billion dollars by 2015.

Moscow/Minsk - Moscow will give Belarus a two billion dollar credit to purchase Russian natural gas Minsk cannot otherwise afford, the Belapan news agency reported Tuesday.

Russian Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin announced the loan at a Moscow press conference. At least half of the money would be transferred to the Belarusian government by the end of 2008, he said.