A surge in oil prices last week to almost $70 a barrel on concerns about the restart of Iran’s nuclear programme only hints at what may lie ahead.

Anti-Japanese protesters smashed windows and damaged the signs of Japanese-style noodle shops and bars in Shanghai’s central shopping district today.

US and Iraqi forces killed 85 militants at a suspected training camp along the marshy shores of a remote lake, one of the highest guerrilla death tolls of the two-year insurgency, officials said.