Oil prices touched new highs near $105 a barrel today as the US unveiled a surprise drop in supplies.

Oil prices edged higher today after Turkish attacks on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and fresh concerns over US supplies.

Oil prices reached another record high today as persistent supply concerns saw the psychologically important 100 US-dollars-a-barrel level come back into view.

An influential panel of scientists urged US president George Bush to abandon plans for a billion-dollar push to expand nuclear power.

Oil prices fell back from record levels today amid hopes of higher US stockpiles of oil and petrol.

CRUDE oil fell after failing to break above $60 a barrel in New York for a third straight day and a US government report showed fuel stockpiles to be ample.

CRUDE oil fell, closing below $54 a barrel in New York for the first time in more than 18 months, after a US Energy Department report showed that US fuel stockpiles rose for a fourth week.

Opec ministers today agreed to hold production unchanged for now but set the stage for a cutback of half a million barrels a day in February.

CRUDE oil fell for the first time in four days on forecasts that US inventories rose and scepticism OPEC will cut production by one million barrels a day.

Oil prices climbed today fuelled by concerns at possible production cuts and worries over how global superpowers will react to North Korea’s nuclear weapons test.

A leading supermarket today stoked up the petrol price war on the day oil prices slipped below $60 a barrel.

Oil prices began to edge back up today after falling to their lowest levels in almost two months last night.

US stocks plunged today as a broker’s downgrade of Dell and higher oil prices aggravated Wall Street’s worries about a shaky start to second-quarter earnings. The Dow Jones industrial average sank more than 121 points.

The US Energy Department says it has completed dismantling the last Minuteman missile, a hallmark of America’s defences during the Cold War.

WEST Texas sweet crude oil for delivery next March hit $70 per barrel in New York yesterday - the highest price ever - as a result of the current crisis gripping the market.

Former Russian Nuclear Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov was arrested at the request of US officials who have demanded his extradition, a Swiss official said today.

Investors pulled their cash out of the United States stock market today, leaving prices sharply lower after the Federal Reserve confirmed Wall Street’s fears that inflation poses an increasing threat to the economy.

Stocks skidded today as soaring oil prices offset bullish testimony about the state of the US economy by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

Wall Street’s 2005 slump extended into a third session today as renewed concerns about inflation and higher interest rates sapped confidence from buyers.

Wall Street extended its record-setting rally today as a sharp drop in oil prices and a surprise jump in the US gross domestic product encouraged buying.

UK industry breathed a sigh of relief today after oil prices recorded their heaviest fall in a single session since 2001.

Crude futures eased slightly today in light trade as traders looked toward another expected build in US crude stocks, shrugging off another attack on oil fields in Iraq and a looming strike in Africa’s largest exporter Nigeria.

Crude oil futures inched toward the $55 milestone today, a day after US officials announced a decline in their country’s inventory of heating oil, heating a market already on edge over tight supplies, high demand and unrest in key producers.

Two ships carrying a trans-Atlantic shipment of US plutonium have arrived in a port on the north-western French coast of Normandy.

CRUDE oil in New York tumbled for the second straight session as mild northeast weather is expected to trim US fuel demand.

THE US plans to run Iraq’s oil industry until an Iraqi interim authority can take it over, sources familiar with the evolving plan said on Friday.

THE pioneer scientist who helped crack the human genome and a Nobel laureate last night announced plans to create a new life-form in a laboratory dish in an experiment that raises ethical and safety questions.

US Energy Department officials want the Los Alamos National Laboratory, known as the birthplace of the atomic bomb, to create a special facility where scientists can work with infectious agents such as plague, anthrax and tuberculosis.