Moscow - A proposed cartel of the world's three major gas exporting nations - Russia, Iran and Qatar - should not be compared to OPEC, the organization of oil exporting nations, Russian officials said on Thursday.

Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky was speaking to reporters ahead of a Tuesday meeting in Moscow of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, who are aiming to enhance their cooperation.

Earlier this year Russia proclaimed the formation of a so-called "gas troika," within the forum, to represent the interests of the three big gas players.

Amman - Jordan's trade deficit widened by 27 per cent in the first 10 months of the year even though exports expanded more strongly than imports in the period, Amman reported Thursday.

The state-run Department of Statistics reported a deficit of 5.675 billion dinars (8.02 billion dollars) in this year's January-October period, compared with 4.467 billion dinars a year earlier.

The deficit came on imports of 10.3 billion dinars, up 32.2 per cent from the same period last year. Exports rose by 39 per cent to almost 4.63 billion dinars.

Saudi Arabia, Jordan's main supplier of energy, topped the list of exporters to Jordan, followed by China and Germany.

Kabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Thursday that unnecessary detentions and house-searches of Afghan people would damage the legitimacy of his government and asked NATO-led international forces to respect the laws and culture of Afghanistan.

"Entering by force to our people's houses is against the government of Afghanistan," Karzai told a gathering of Afghan government officials and foreign diplomats in Kabul.

The president said his repeated demands to the nearly 70,000 NATO and US-led troops stationed in the country to put an end to house searches and detentions did not yield any result.

Amsterdam - Women who are career-minded should only seek
employment with Royal Dutch Shell, electronics manufacturer Philips or
telecommunications company KPN - but the best treatment comes from the
Dutch government, according to a survey published Thursday.

A survey conducted by marketing research institute TNS NIPO among
1,096 Dutch managers of 150 companies showed the three multinationals
were the most women-friendly companies in the Dutch business sector.

The survey, published on Thursday in Management Team magazine, also
said civil-servant positions with national or local authorities were
considered most women-friendly.

Civil-servant jobs received 4,006 points from the managers

Stockholm - A spokesman for Sweden's public prosecutor said Thursday that it had launched an investigation into members of the Nobel committee for receiving free gifts of trips to China.

The prosecutor had launched preliminary investigations based on the suspicion of passive bribe-taking, the spokesman said on SR radio.

The investigation was prompted by media reports earlier in the week that a leading member of each of the juries for the medicine, physics and chemistry prizes had travelled to Beijing on a state- sponsored trip.