In the last few years, smog and coal dust have increasingly blotted out the sky in Ulaanbaatar. This year has been particularly bad, as the man made pollution has combined with the coldest temperatures for a decade. The city's ubiquitous ‘ger districts' and the exhaust fumes from the growing number of motor vehicles on city’s roads are viewed as the chief culprits, as they also are in Beijing and New Delhi.

Mars, the maker of Whiskas and Pedigree pet products, will pay $93 per share, a premium of 31.4 percent to VCA's Friday closing price.

The enterprise value of the deal is $9.1 billion including $1.4 billion in debt, the companies said in a statement on Monday.

VCA will operate as a separate business unit within Mars Petcare, the biggest pet food maker in the world.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

Ariad stock was up 74.7 percent at $23.98 in premarket trading.

Takeda has agreed to pay $24 in cash for each Ariad share, a premium of about 75 percent to its Friday close.

Ariad's leukemia drug, Iclusig, which is expected to generate sales of $170 million-$180 million in 2016, came under fire in October for "staggering" price increases.

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration decision on its lung cancer treatment brigatinib, which is being touted as a potential blockbuster, is expected by April 29.

Cancer treatment is a target for many large drugmakers, with high prices being paid for promising assets, such as Medivation, which was bought by Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) for $14 billion.

Takeda's negotiations to acquire Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc's (VRX.TO) Salix stomach-drug business have stalled over price disagreements, Reuters reported in November, citing people familiar with the matter. reut.rs/2jkIbd9

The Ariad deal, which Takeda plans to fund by taking on $4 billion in new debt as well as existing cash, is expected to close by the end of February.

Ariad had long-term debt of about $522 million as of Sept. 30, according to a regulatory filing.

ALSO IN DEALS

The equity value of the deal, which is expected to add to Takeda earnings in 2018, is $4.66 billion, according to Reuters calculations.

(Reporting by Natalie Grover and Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

Oliver Schmidt, who headed the company's regulatory compliance office in the U.S. from 2014 to March 2015, was arrested on Saturday by federal investigators in Florida, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter. nyti.ms/2iTA73S

VW admitted in September 2015 to installing secret software known as "defeat devices" in 475,000 U.S. 2.0-liter diesel cars to cheat exhaust emissions tests and make them appear cleaner in testing. In reality, the vehicles emitted up to 40 times the legally allowable pollution levels.

Volkswagen declined to comment on the reported arrest.

"Volkswagen continues to cooperate with the Department of Justice as we work to resolve remaining matters in the United States. It would not be appropriate to comment on any ongoing investigations or to discuss personnel matters," it said.

The FBI was not immediately available for comment.

Schmidt is expected to be brought before court in Detroit on Monday, the NYT said.

Senior VW officials are not attending this year's Detroit auto show, which is taking place this week.

The news comes as Volkswagen was nearing a deal to resolve criminal and civil allegations over its diesel cheating, crucial steps toward moving past the scandal, which has cost it billions of dollars and its reputation.

(Reporting by Gaurika Juneja in Bengaluru and Edward Taylor in Frankfurt; Editing by Sunil Nair and Louise Heavens)

"To recommend the Central Bank of Russia reassess the interest rates on loans provided to the subjects of the Russian Federation by lenders, and to take measures to cut them," said a statement on the Kremlin’s website.

Putin has given bankers two months until March 1 to cut the key rates. Russian Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina, who was named as the best European central bank governor in 2016, has been given the task of seeing it through.

At the moment, Russia’s key annual rate is 10 percent, much lower than the 17 percent during the peak of the economic crisis, but much higher than in Western countries.

The Central Bank intends to cut inflation to four percent this year, and if “a sustainable decline in consumer price growth takes root, the Bank of Russia will consider cutting the key rate in the first half of 2017,” the lender said in December.

Also, the president instructed the Government to develop “a new mechanism for providing financial assistance to regional budgets on a gratuitous basis." This measure is intended to finance the debt of regions without boosting their public debt. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was assigned the responsibility of putting the president’s order into practice.

Sales were up 20 percent from the previous year, although sales growth slowed to 12 percent year-on-year in December, the carmaker said.

The automaker, which spent years in the doldrums before being bought by India's Tata in 2008, has since invested heavily in new models and expanded production with plants in China and Brazil and construction of a new site in Slovakia under way.

Sales of luxury Jaguar models rose 77 percent to 148,730 units in 2016 due to strong demand for a range of new high-end products including the F-PACE, the brand's first off-roader which was launched last year.

Europe was the carmaker's biggest overall market, accounting for almost a quarter of total demand.

The firm said its line-up will continue to expand but it has warned about the negative effect any tariffs on its business imposed as part of a Brexit deal could have if Britain were to lose unfettered access to the single market.

Its annual profit could be cut by 1 billion pounds ($1.23 billion) by 2020 if Britain returned to World Trade Organization rules for trade with the continent, two sources told Reuters last year.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Adrian Croft)

Citic Ltd and Citic Capital will have a stake of 52 percent, while Carlyle and McDonald's will own 28 percent and 20 percent, respectively in the businesses.

Reuters reported in December that McDonald's was looking to raise $1 billion to $2 billion with the sale of its China and Hong Kong stores.

(Reporting By Rushil Dutta in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

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