Vienna - The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose by 1.53 dollars Tuesday, staying below the 75-dollar mark, OPEC said Wednesday.

Brussels - The European Union's member states should be able to react to sudden gas shut-offs by transferring part of their own consumption to fellow-members, the French government is set to say at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday.

And the EU should try to obtain more energy from Africa and hold a "high-level meeting" with the countries of the Caspian basin and transit states such as Turkey and Georgia in spring 2009 in a bid to kick-start the diversification of gas supplies, the proposal adds.

Vienna - The price for crude

Islamabad - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari warned that any breach of a river water-sharing treaty by India will be detrimental to the peace process between the nuclear-armed neighbours, media reports said on Monday.

The statement came two days after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the controversial 450-megawatt Baglihar hydroelectric project over the Chenab River that flows from Indian-administered Kashmir into Pakistan.

Vienna - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) scheduled a special meeting in November, as the cartel's crude price remained below 80 dollars for the second day in a row on Thursday.

One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC crude stood at 78.25 dollars Thursday, rising 0.87 dollars from 77.38 dollars on the previous day, according to figures released by the cartel on Friday.

Gyongju, South Korea - More than 1,000 experts, business leaders and scholars from 20 nations gathered Thursday in an eastern South Korean city to draw up strategies on how to accelerate the development of ecologically friendly energy sources.

The three-day World Global Energy Forum opened amid growing concerns about climate change and the threat it poses to people, especially those living at or near sea level.

India's RK Pachauri, chairman of the UN's Nobel Peace Prize-winning climate-change panel, warned that global warming would raise average sea levels.