MOSCOW - Russia's lower house of parliament, the Duma, on Friday approved two anti-crisis packages worth a total of $86 billion (S$127.1 billion) at the third and final reading.

The packages include making available $50 billion of state money to banks and companies who need to refinance foreign debt, and giving 950 billion roubles (S$53.7 billion) to Russia's key banks in subordinated loans. -- REUTERS