standard-regulating bodies of four countries

Jeddah: Two days after inflation figures threw up a 13-year high of 11.05%, largely attributed to the hike in fuel prices, finance minister P Chidambaram cautioned oil producers that they would also suffer in case the global economy slows down or slips into recession due to high oil prices. India, he said, had passed on barely 9% of the required price increase to customers three weeks ago and the result was that inflation crossed 11%. Even oil producing countries like Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela face double digit inflation up to 29.3%.

Soaring food prices are a "massacre" of the world's poor and are creating a global nutritional crisis, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday, calling it a sign that capitalism is in decline. His comments came only hours after the United Nations' World Food Program called more expensive food a "silent tsunami" that threatens to plunge more than 100 million people on every continent into hunger. "It is a true massacre what is happening in the world," Chavez said in a televised speech, citing UN statistics about deaths caused by hunger and malnourishment.

Barely a week after the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez threatened to halt oil shipments to the us, the socialist leader has sent a placatory message, saying the country is not preparing to cut

Eni, the Italian oil and gas group, plans to invest $4 billion in Venezuela, the biggest commitment to the country by a western oil company since President Hugo Ch

Eni, the Italian oil and gas group, plans to invest $4bn in Venezuela, the biggest commitment to the country by a western oil company since President Hugo Ch

AFTER winning a new term as president by a landslide a year ago, Hugo Ch

The Venezuelan president, Hugo Ch

Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela's energy minister, on Friday rejected concerns that PDVSA, the state oil company, would be affected by attempts by ExxonMobil to freeze assets worth $12bn. Exxon won court orders on Thursday in the UK, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles to freeze PDVSA's global assets in an attempt to secure compensation for operations lost to President Hugo Chavez's nationalisation drive last year.