The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, under the chairmanship of foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, is meeting on Wednesday to discuss reduction in fuel prices. It may take final decision on much awaited reduction of prices of petroleum products on accounts of decline in crude rates in the international market.

Prices of petrol can be reduced by Rs 4 a litre, diesel by Rs 1 per litre and cooking gas LPG by Rs 25 a cylinder, much lower than expected by transporters and general public of the country.

Washington  - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a new climate change envoy Monday as part of a bolstered US presence on the international stage to address global warming.

Todd Stern will become the country's chief climate negotiator with the international community, which is hoping to agree to a new climate treaty by the end of this year. Stern will also be involved in domestic US efforts to reduce pollution.

Budapest  - Senior EU ministers, heads of state and financiers began arriving in the Hungarian capital on Monday for a high-level summit to discuss the planned Nabucco gas pipeline.

Hungary's Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said he intends to urge the European Union at the summit on Tuesday to provide financial backing to help get the Nabucco project off the ground.

Nabucco is a 3,300-kilometre gas pipeline that is planned to bring natural gas from Central Asia and the Middle East into the EU. The eight-billion-euro project is seen by the EU as a crucial step towards reducing Europe's dependence on Russian gas.

Berlin  - A new organisation promoting the development and use of renewable energies was launched Monday in the former German capital, Bonn.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) will advise industrialised and developing nations on ways of reducing their dependency on oil, coal and gas.

Speaking at the opening event, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the potential for renewable energies is huge, and needs more help to achieve a global breakthrough.

Vienna - The price for oil produced

Kolkata, Jan. 25 : Representatives of oil companies like Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum and Indian Oil, along with employees of the Gas Authority of India (GAIL), members of the Petroleum Conservation Researchers' Association (PCRA) and students from several schools participated in a walkathon here today.

The walk was aimed at creating awareness regarding the need to conserve oil.

According to S K Srivastava, Regional Manager, Bharat Petroleum, oil as a natural reserve was under threat of running out across the globe.

It was, therefore. necessary to use it judiciously, he added.