Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamed bin Khalifa Al-Thani (l) welcomes French President Nicolas Sarkozy at his palace Diwan Emiri in Doha on Monday.

DOHA, Qatar,
Jan. 15--France and Qatar signed electricity and nuclear power deals on Monday after President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Doha from Saudi Arabia, where he forecast that Paris would win multi-billion dollar contracts in the future.
Areva Transmission and Distribution, a subsidiary of French nuclear power group Areva, signed a contract worth 470 million euros ($695 million) for the supply of sub-stations to provide electricity throughout Qatar with the Persian Gulf Arab state’s water and electricity company Kahrama, a source in Sarkozy’s delegation said, AFP reported.
A memorandum of understanding was also inked by Qatar with Electricite de France (EDF) to “discuss cooperation in the production of nuclear power and renewable-- solar and wind--energies,“ the source said.
The talks will initially cover an agreement to help conduct a feasibility study and will not involve an investment, the source said.
Another MoU provided for cooperation at the international level between Qatar Petroleum International and Gaz de France.
French and Qatari officials also discussed a series of other accords potentially worth 6.3 billion euros ($9.3 billion).
Around 20 business bosses, including Areva chief executive Anne Lauvergeon and Christophe de Margerie, head of the Total oil group, were accompanying the French leader in the Qatari capital.
Before leaving the Saudi capital earlier on Monday, Sarkozy had reiterated an offer to Arab and Muslim countries to share French expertise to develop civilian nuclear energy.
On Tuesday, France was expected to sign an accord on civilian nuclear cooperation with the United Arab Emirates, the third and final stage of Sarkozy’s Persian Gulf tour. It will be the third such agreement with an Arab country, following those reached with Algeria and Libya in December.
Sarkozy told the Saudi Shura (consultative) Council “it is in the name of justice that France believes that access to civilian nuclear power should be the right of all peoples.“
In a speech to the 150-strong advisory council, Sarkozy said, “France wants to be a friend of Saudi Arabia, a friend of the Arab world, a friend who does not lecture but tells the truth.“
While not signing any firm commercial deals in Saudi Arabia, the president said French companies would in the weeks and months ahead sign major contracts with Riyadh potentially worth 40 billion euros ($59 billion).

LONDON, Jan. 15--Britain must keep a leading role in the European Union--and drive forward economic reforms in the bloc--to ride out global turbulence in the financial markets, the prime minister said Monday.
Gordon Brown stressed the importance of Europe to the British economy, responding to political opponents who accuse him of surrendering powers to Brussels by signing a treaty last month that simplified how the 27-country EU is run, AP wrote.
He said pursuing a diminished role in Europe--advocated by some political rivals --would likely cost British jobs. “At times of global economic uncertainty, we should not be throwing into question, as some would, the stability of our continuing relationship with Europe,“ Brown said.
Brown said those who advocated Britain withdrawing entirely from the EU would risk business and jobs.
Europe accounts for around 60 percent of Britain’s trade and supports 3.5 million jobs in Britain, Brown told an audience of business leaders in central London.
Lawmakers in Britain will debate the new EU treaty--the successor to the failed constitution--starting next week, with a month of sessions scheduled to scrutinize the text.
Many lawmakers opposed Brown’s decision to sign up to the document last month, calling for a national referendum.
Brown told business leaders he believed retaining strong ties in Europe is critical to ride out the financial turmoil triggered by the US subprime credit crisis.
“I strongly believe that rather than retreating to the sidelines we must remain fully engaged in Europe so we can push forward the reforms that are essential for Europe’s, and Britain’s, economic future,“ Brown said.
The British leader will hold a summit in London with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on economic reforms before the end of January, Brown’s office said.

LONDON, Jan. 15--The price of gold is hitting new record highs owing to the troubled US economy and a cocktail of other supportive factors, leading some analysts to predict $1,000 per ounce could happen soon.
In recent days the precious metal has blasted past $900 in a record-breaking run, AFP wrote.
Unprecedented demand for jewelry production in China and India, the weak US dollar, rising inflation due to high oil prices and fraught geopolitical concerns have sparked demand for precious metals--particularly gold.
On the London Bullion Market on Monday, gold blazed a trail as high as $914.30 per ounce. On Friday, gold had broken through $900 for the first time during New York trade.
“Psychologically, $1,000 per ounce now has to be a target,“ said John Payne, portfolio manager of Hexam Global Resources Absolute Return Fund. “Gold looks very well supported.“I think the primary driver is concern over the US economy and the weak dollar. Food price inflation, geopolitical concerns and oil near $100 per barrel are all drivers of the price,“ added Payne.
The weak US currency makes commodities priced in dollars--like gold and crude oil--cheaper for buyers using stronger currencies and therefore encourages demand. Traders are also investing their cash in gold as they search for shelter from concerns over the troubled United States economy. In addition, the metal benefits from its safe-haven status in times of geopolitical uncertainty.
Also, with oil prices trading above $90 per barrel, more investors are turning to gold as they seek to guard against rising inflation--sparked by the soaring cost of crude in many countries.
Nik Bienkowski, head of listings and research at ETF Securities, agreed that gold prices were on track to score new record highs. “The US Treasury has indicated that it has a negative view on the US (economy) and the markets are looking for a 50 basis point reduction in interest rates at the next Fed meeting.“That would be negative for the dollar and therefore positive for gold,“ he added.
However UBS analyst Robin Bhar sounded a cautious note. “We are more concerned about the prospects for a sharp correction in all the precious metals rather than for near-term gains,“ Bhar said.
Gold, which is used in the dentistry and electronics sectors, had smashed its 28 year-old record of $850 an ounce earlier this year. In the first week of 2008, political unrest in Pakistan after the murder of the country’s opposition leader Benazir Bhutto led to fresh interest in gold.
Gold’s last great charge was in the 1970s--a decade which was marked by recession, the two stunning oil shocks of 1973 and 1979, rampant inflation and doubts about the outlook for the US economy.
In recent years, gold has found favor on buoyant demand across commodity markets that has been driven by the booming Chinese and Indian economies.
But the real kick came in late 2007 as the prospect of slower global growth and rising inflation raised the specter of “stagflation“--the bugbear of the 1970s--coupled with a fearsome credit crunch sparked by the collapse of the US subprime home loan market.

BRUSSELS, Belgium, Jan. 15--EU competition regulators said Monday they had launched two new antitrust probes against Microsoft, opening fresh fronts in their battle against the US software giant’s dominant market power.
The European Commission said one investigation targeted the interoperability of a broad range of software, including Microsoft’s popular Office package, with rival products.
The other inquiry would look into whether Microsoft had illegally tied products to its ubiquitous Windows operating system, including its Internet Explorer browser, AFP reported.
“This initiation of proceedings does not imply that the Commission has proof of an infringement,“ the European Union’s top competition watchdog said in a statement. “It only signifies that the Commission will further investigate the case as a matter of priority.“
Microsoft, which has clashed in the past with the Commission over antitrust charges, vowed to help regulators in their latest two investigations.
“We will cooperate fully with the Commission’s investigation and provide any and all information necessary,“ the company said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring that Microsoft is in full compliance with European law and our obligations as established by the European Court of First Instance in its September 2007 ruling,“ it added.
In September, Microsoft lost an appeal before Europe’s second-highest court against a fine of nearly 500 million euros ($745 million) that EU regulators slapped on the company in 2004 for abusing its dominant market power.
In that case, the Commission accused Microsoft of using its stranglehold on personal computer operating systems to elbow rivals out of the more competitive markets for media players and operating systems running back-office servers.
The new probes considerably broaden the scope of Microsoft product lines facing regulatory scrutiny while also targeting some of the company’s best-known programs.
Following a complaint from a group of Microsoft’s rivals known as ECIS, the Commission said it would look into whether the company had denied competitors key technical information about not only Office, but also servers and other software.

Corn for March delivery jumped 17 cents to settle at $5.12 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, exceeding the previous high set in May 1996.

NEW YORK, Jan. 15--Corn futures surged to a 12-year high Monday on expectations that world supplies will shrink rapidly amid growing demand for the grain to feed livestock and make alternative fuel.
Other commodities traded mostly higher, with gold and platinum touching record highs and crude oil also making gains, AP reported.
Investors snapped up Corn contracts for a second straight session after the US Department of Agriculture released a bullish report Friday projecting a steep drop in US Corn ending stocks. The USDA lowered its ending stocks forecast for 2007-08 to 1.438 billion bushels, down sharply from 1.797 billion.
“It’s the ending stocks that did it. People were surprised they would fall so low,“ said Elaine Kub, analyst with DTN. “We’re finally getting some price discovery and seeing how high people are willing to go.“
Corn for March delivery jumped 17 cents to settle at $5.12 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, exceeding the previous high set in May 1996.
Despite a record US harvest last year, Corn prices rose more than 15 percent in 2007, driven by the burgeoning ethanol industry and growing demand for livestock feed in places like China.
Dry, hot weather in South America’s Corn belt has also pushed up prices.
Other agricultural futures traded mixed. Soybeans for March delivery slipped 2.25 cents to settle at $12.965 a bushel, after earlier reaching a contract-high of $13.41.
March wheat rose 7.75 cents to settle past $9.17 a bushel.
In other commodities, gold--which breached the $900 an ounce mark Friday--continued its upward climb on a weak US dollar, fears of a US recession and high oil prices.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 15--A fire broke out early Tuesday in a major oil refinery in the southern city of Basra, the Iraqi oil ministry said. Four workers suffered burn injuries.
The fire at the Shuaiba refinery started at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) “due to an explosion,“ said Assem Jihad, the oil Ministry spokesman.
“Fire fighters and technical teams have controlled the fire, which hit the gas unit,“ Jihad told AP.
An investigation was under way and production is continuing.
Basra, where about 80 percent of Iraq’s oil reserves are located, is Iraq’s second-largest city, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad. The Shuaiba refinery, on the southern outskirts of Basra, has a capacity of 160,000 barrels a day but has been functioning below capacity at about 100,000 bpd.
Last week, a technical fault in a production unit sparked two fires in the country’s largest oil refinery in the northern town of Beiji, 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad. An engineer was killed and 10 workers suffered burns in those fires.
Iraq’s three main oil refineries, Beiji, Shuaiba and Dora in Baghdad--are running at roughly half their capacity, processing a total of about 350,000 bpd, compared to about 700,000 before the US-led invasion in 2003.
The shortfall has forced Iraq to turn to imports of oil products such as gasoline and kerosene from neighbors Iran, Kuwait and Turkey.
Iraq, the holder of the world’s third-largest crude oil reserves with an estimated 115 billion barrels, aims to boost crude production to 3 million bpd by the end of this year.

Washington, Jan. 15-- The dollar has edged towards seven-week lows against both the yen and the euro on fears of poor US retail sales data and banking results later on Tuesday. With any weak figures set to increase expectations of a further cut in US interest rates, the dollar had fallen to 107.75 yen in early trading, BBC reported.
Against the European single currency, one euro was worth $1.4876, up from $1.4869 on Monday.
Reports say banking giant Citigroup could report $20 billion (£10 billion) of bad debt. Citigroup will be the first major US bank to release its results for the last three months of 2007, and its figures will give another snapshot of the banking sector’s exposure to the crisis in the US sub-prime mortgage sector.
Some reports suggest Citigroup could also announce job cuts of more than 20,000.
“The numbers for write-downs and job cuts at Citi could heighten worries about banking sector problems and their impact on the economy, if confirmed,“ said Kengo Suzuki, a currency strategist at Shinko Securities.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs has already predicted that the US economy will fall into recession in 2008, and analysts are also nervously awaiting the release of retail sales data for December.
As consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the US economy, the figure may indicate whether Goldman’s fears are correct.
In December, the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the third time in succession to 4.25 percent, as it tried to help steer the world’s largest economy through the continuing housing slump and credit market woes.

HAVANA, Jan. 15--Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is expected to grant Cuba millions of dollars (euros) in food and infrastructure credits, while signing a deal to begin exploratory oil drilling in Cuban waters within two years. Silva arrived for a two-day visit to Cuba on Monday, AP reported.
The two countries plan to sign “substantial“ economic agreements to boost trade, said Luis Marfil, first secretary of Brazil’s embassy in Havana.
Brazil’s foreign ministry said the accords would include $100 million (68 million euros) in food financing for Cuba, while Brazilian media said $70 million (47 million euros) would go to modernize a Cuban nickel plant and unspecified amounts to improve roads, infrastructure and hotel projects on the island.
A separate deal would allow Petrobras, Brazil’s state-run energy company, to explore for deep-water oil in Cuban parts of the Gulf of Mexico, Brazilian presidential spokesman Fabio Rocha said by phone from Havana. The company hopes to run wells there within two years, he said, declining to detail the terms of the deal.
Cuban Gulf territory could contain large quantities of crude, and Spanish, Canadian, Indian and Malaysian energy firms have already signed contracts to explore the area.