US warns on economy as Africa seeks climate aid Agence France-Presse . Bangkok The United States warned Thursday a worsening economy limited what it could give to help poor nations fight global warming, as African activists appealed for major polluters to commit one per cent of GDP. More than 160 countries are meeting in Bangkok in a bid to lay the groundwork for a deal on combatting climate change after the landmark Kyoto Protocol's commitments to slash greenhouse gas emissions run out in 2012.

Gazprom, Russia's state-owned gas group, is likely to secure energy assets in Libya alongside Eni gaining a long sought entry to north African oil and gas fields and tightening its grip on European markets. Paolo Scaroni, the Eni chief executive and Alexei Miller, the head of Gazprom, discussed the idea during talks in Moscow last Thursday, the Italian said in a statement disclosing the location of the assets. Industry sources said Eni had agreed to share assets with Gazprom "in a north African country, probably Libya'.

Alarmed by the growing influence of China in the oil and gas sector in many African countries, India has decided to turn its focus from the OPEC countries to the African nations for acquisition of oil

LONDON-based Vedanta Resources is planning to invest $15 billion in the mining sector in India and Africa by 2010. Vedanta Resources executive chairman Anil Agrawal told ET that the company is planning to become the largest producer of metals in the world. "We are targeting at achieving the 1 million tonnes per annum production capacity in copper and zinc while in Aluminium, where we have already touched the magical 1 million figure, we are trying to scale it up to 3 million tonnes per annum,' he said.

pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is recalling its malaria drug Lapdap and has discontinued development of another malaria drug, Dacart, saying the drugs can lead to anaemia in some patients.