Jalandhar (Punjab), Nov 12 : Activists of, a students wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launching its nationwide movement against the Bangladeshi immigrants called for a shutdown of colleges in Jalandhar In Punjab on Wednesday.

The activists, in an attempt to garner the support of the students, urged schools and colleges in Jalandhar to shutdown.

Moscow - Russia, Iran and Qatar are to enter into a joint venture to produce and export gas as officials of the three leading producers meet for gas cooperation talks on Wednesday in Doha, a Russian business daily reported.

Kommersant said the so-called "gas troika" would build a pipeline to pump gas from Iran's South Pars deposit, the world's largest, to be processed at a plant in Qatar, citing a Russian government official.

Analysts expect the project to be worth an estimated 4 billion dollars.

Copenhagen - Danish shipping and oil concern AP Moller- Maersk said Wednesday higher oil and freight prices helped lift its nine-month profit and sales.

Turnover for the nine-month period January to September increased 28 per cent to 47.1 billion dollars while net profit was up 39 per cent year-on-year to 3.6 billion dollars, the group said.

Chief executive Nils S Andersen said management was "satisfied with the group's operating performance" but gearing up to "compete in the tough market environment" expected in 2009.

Dhaka  - Bangladesh's chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed is expected to meet Myanmar junta chief General Thein Sein to discuss disputes over territorial waters on the sideline of the BIMSTEC summit to be held in New Delhi Thursday, officials in Dhaka said Wednesday.

The leaders are expected to discuss maritime boundary demarcations, the lack of which had caused tension between the two neighbours over oil and gas exploration in the disputed Bay of Bengal waters.

Baghdad - The Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki was nominated Wednesday for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to a government source.

The government nominated Maliki for his efforts in sustaining peace in Iraq, the Iraqi national information center said in a statement quoted by the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

Brussels - The European Commission on Wednesday proposed tough rules designed to improve the functioning of credit rating agencies, which have been partly blamed for the global financial crisis.

The proposals, put together by European Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, are designed to "restore market confidence" by imposing strict conditions on rating agencies wishing to operate in the European Union.

If approved by member states and the European Parliament, the proposals will place rating agencies under the control of European supervisors.