Bank lenders in talks with indebted Dubai World ahead of critical creditors’ meeting

Dubai World’s six biggest lending banks have begun talks with the ailing state-owned group before a crunch creditors’ meeting that is scheduled for December 21.

Four British-listed banks — HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Standard Chartered — and two local lenders — Emirates National Bank of Dubai and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank — met NM Rothschild and Deloitte, Dubai World’s advisers, in the Group and SGulf State yesterday.

The banks tried to ascertain whether Dubai World would make interest payments due on the bonds of Nakheel, its property subsidiary, next Monday. Last night Dubai World’s intentions remained unclear.

The company said last week that it had asked creditors to restructure almost half its $59 billion (£36 billion) total liabilities, adding that it planned a six-month suspension of all debt repayments. The announcement sparked panic in stock markets around the world as nervous investors worried about a second wave of financial collapses.
The leading banks, which are forming a steering committee to represent all 90 of Dubai World’s bank lenders, also asked for detailed financial information to help them to revalue the company in the event of a default. A source close to the banks said that they will have created the steering committee and formally appointed KPMG as its adviser by Thursday. The accountancy firm has been advising the banks informally for several weeks.

The banks are expected to start formulating their negotiating stance this weekend, ahead of the formal meeting of all Dubai World’s creditors this month in the Gulf State.

Informed sources said that the banks were likely to be far less aggressive than a rival group of bondholders advised by Ashurst, the London-based law firm, because the bank lenders have significant operations in the Gulf and are reluctant to damage relations with Dubai or Abu Dhabi, its oil-rich backer.

The bondholder group advised by Ashurst, which is led by QVT, the American hedge fund, is less concerned about repeat business and has asked legal advisers to assess whether it has a potential claim over Dubai World’s trophy overseas assets, such as P&O, the ferry company. Ashurst declined to comment but it is understood that by yesterday the QVT-led group accounted for about 40 per cent of the holders of Nahkeel’s bonds by value.

Insiders close to the talks said that yesterday’s meeting had been exploratory but would establish the likely direction of future negotiations. The most immediate concern, however, is a $4 billion Islamic bond held by Nakheel, which is due for repayment on December 14. With the Nakheel bond only days away from default, further talks are scheduled this week between Dubai World and its banks and bondholders.

Earlier, a senior Dubai government finance official conceded that Dubai World was prepared to sell some of its key overseas assets as part of the restructuring. The holding company had previously sought to confine the restructuring to its real estate groups, Nakheel and Limitless World, but the comments by Abdulrahman al-Saleh, director-general of Dubai’s Department of Finance, has fuelled speculation that trophy assets such as the QE2 cruise liner and the group’s stake in Canada’s Cirque du Soleil could be sold in an effort to balance the books.

Mr al-Saleh emphasised that the Government itself would not sell any assets to bail out Dubai World.

Bargain-hunters look to cash in

Overseas property investors are “rubber-necking” in Dubai’s downtrodden housing market, trawling websites for evidence of the collapse hitting property prices and the chance to bag a bargain (Rebecca O’Connor writes).

Rightmove Overseas, the international division of the British property website, recorded a 176 per cent rise in the number of searches for bricks and mortar in the emirate in the seven days after Dubai World’s request for a standstill on debt repayments, compared with the previous week. The surge in interest took the monthly increase in searches in Dubai to 45 per cent between October and November, becoming the fourth-most popular country for people interested in property prices.

Housing prices have risen dramatically in Dubai in the past — doubling in the four years to the end of 2008. However, they sank by 47 per cent in the year to September, according to Knight Frank, the estate agency, and are forecast to fall by a further 30 per cent. There are hopes that they could bottom out next year.

WikiLeaks: Internet backlash follows US pressure against whistleblowing site

WikiLeaks: American pressure to dissuade companies in the US from supporting the WikiLeaks website has led to an online backlash. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

American pressure to dissuade companies in the US from supporting the WikiLeaks website has led to an online backlash in which individuals are redirecting parts of their own sites to its Swedish internet host.

Since early on Friday morning, it has been impossible to reach WikiLeaks by typing wikileaks.org into a web browser because everyDNS, which would redirect queries for the string "wikileaks.org" to that machine address, removed its support for Wikileaks, claiming that it had broken its terms of service by being the target of a huge hacker attack. (See What is DNS?)

Without a DNS record, it is only possible to reach WikiLeaks by typing in the string of numbers which, for most web users, is too unmemorable to make it feasible.

That, campaigners say, points to the principal weakness in the internet's pyramidial DNS setup, where a limited number of site registrars can control whether a site is findable by name or not.

Website hosts are being encouraged to add a "/wikileaks" directory into their sites, redirecting to which redirects to http://88.80.13.160/, run by the Swedish hosting company Bahnhof.

At present, that location redirects users to a Wikleaks page at http://213.251.145.96/, which is run by a French company, but if pressure from the French government pushes Wikileaks off that host, it will still have the Swedish location.

At the same time, scores of sites "mirroring" WikiLeaks have sprung up – by lunchtime today, the list was 74-strong and contained sites that have the same content as WikiLeaks and – crucially – link to the downloads of its leaks of 250,000 US diplomatic cables.

The backlash has also gained its own tag on the microblogging service Twitter, where people who have linked to the main site are using the hashtag #imwikileaks.

The technical details of how to make a site's subdirectory point directly to the WikiLeaks site are described by Paul Carvill, a British developer, and Jamie McClelland.

"I've done this as a simple gesture of my support for WikiLeaks and my opposition to arbitrary censorship of the web by governments and corporations," Carvill says on his page, while McLelland says that adding his support "seems like a good way for us all to really pitch in and share the risk that the folks at WikiLeaks are taking all by themselves".

Europe weather ruins Christmas for airlines, retailers

LONDON: Snow and freezing temperatures grounded flights across northern Europe on Tuesday, while retailers fretted they would struggle to make up sales lost due to bad weather with just four shopping days to Christmas.

Eurocontrol, the umbrella group for air-traffic control across 38 countries, said more services would likely operate on Tuesday after more than 22,000 flights across Europe were cancelled on Monday.

But cancellations remained widespread.

British Airways said it expected to make a "significant number of cancellations" to its shorthaul services from London's Heathrow airport.

"Severe weather continues to cause significant disruption to our operation and will do so in the run up to Christmas," the airline warned.

Analysts believe the freezing conditions will hit BA's profit by around 10 million pounds ($15.55 million) a day.

Shares in BA were 1 percent up at 268 pence by 1022 GMT, in line with the FTSE100 bluechip index, up 0.78 percent.

BAA, the company owned by Spain's Ferrovial which operates Heathrow, said its south runway would remain closed again on Tuesday, meaning the world's busiest international airport would operate at significantly reduced capacity.

Thousands of passengers have been stranded at Heathrow for days as flights have been delayed and cancelled.

The British government has relaxed regulations on night flights at Heathrow, allowing for arrivals until 0100 GMT each day until Christmas.

London's Gatwick Airport re-opened at 0600 GMT after closing overnight.

Flights to and from Frankfurt airport, continental Europe's biggest, also resumed after the airport had been shut for several hours in the morning, operator Fraport said.

"It is our goal to return to normal flight operations as quickly as possible," said a Fraport spokesman.

In Belgium, handling agents at its main airport managed to get hold of de-icing fluid after saying on Monday they might run out, allowing the departure of some planes on Tuesday.

Britain's Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for most of the country for the remainder of the week.

Eurostar said it was running a restricted service due to the bad weather. Big queues of Eurostar passengers were building up at King's Cross St Pancras station in central London.

"We are asking all customers booked to travel before Christmas to refund or exchange their tickets free of charge, if their travel is not essential," the cross-channel operator said.

With most festive shopping done in the two weeks before Christmas, European retailers are worried they are running out of time to make up lost ground.

"The snow across the country (UK) is having a dramatic impact, with sales running as much as down 50 percent in heavily affected areas," said Andrew Wade, analyst at Numis Securities.

With no let-up in the extreme weather in sight pre-Christmas profit warnings from retailers have already started.

Alexon, the womenswear retailer with 990 outlets in the UK and Europe, warned its sales had slumped 20 percent over the last three weeks, sending its shares down a fifth.

Pak successfully test fires Ghauri Hataf-V

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan successfully test-fired ballistic missile Ghauri Hataf-V capable of carrying all kind of warheads, the military spokesman said.


According to Geo News, ISPR spokesman stated that the missile is capable of carrying all kind of warheads besides hitting its target at a range of 1300 kilometers.

The test of Ghauri Hataf-V is normal experiment to identify its capability.

Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have f congratulated Pak Army and the whole nation on succesfull test of Ghori Hataf-V.

Britain acts to keep Queen's head on stamps

LONDON: The government insisted it is closing a loophole that could see Queen Elizabeth II's head removed from stamps if the Royal Mail national postal service is sold to a foreign firm.

The monarch's head, facing left, has appeared on adhesive postage stamps since their invention with the 1840 "Penny Black", featuring queen Victoria.

The current standard stamps, drawn up in 1967 by Alan Machin, are considered a design classic and a defining icon of Britain.

Her Majesty's Government is in talks with Buckingham Palace after realising that the legislation paving the way for the Royal Mail to be sold off failed explicitly to guarantee the Queen's head would remain on the stamps.

The bill gives Queen Elizabeth a veto over any use of her image but does not insist that her head is shown, as per tradition.

Postal services minister Ed Davey found the loophole but said he was sure a solution could be found before the law passes through parliament.

PSO paid Rs.26b on oil sale

KARACHI: The government of Pakistan has paid off Pakistan State Oil (PSO) dues worth 26 billion rupees on sale of oil to other state departments on Friday, Geo News reported.

PSO officials told Geo News that government had paid off the company 26.30 billion rupees dues relating to oil sale to different government departments.

The officials further said that still many companies owe PSO Rs.154 billion dues out of which, Rs.141 billion have to be recovered from companies working in energy sector.

It is hoped that after the recovery of the aforementioned amount PSO would be relieved of the financial hardships in connection with sale of and all the same, it would help end oil import crisis the company is currently grappled in.

Death toll in Iraq suicide bombings rises to 17

BAGHDAD: Two suicide car bombers targeting a government compound in the Iraqi town of Ramadi killed at least 17 people and wounded 47 on Monday, a police official said.

"The death toll has risen to 17, most of them police officers, and 47 people have been wounded," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said most of the wounded were in serious condition. He said rescue operations were continuing.

Ramadi is 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad.

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More signs lung cancer screening could save lives

NEW YORK: More research is suggesting that heavy smokers may benefit from screening for lung cancer, to detect tumors in their earliest stages.

A new study finds that regular smokers who received three-dimensional X-rays to look for the presence of early tumors had a significantly lower risk of dying over a 10-year period.

The results are in keeping with those of a much larger study published last month, which showed that these 3-D X-rays, or CT scans, reduced the death rate among 53,000 current and former heavy smokers by 20 percent compared with screening using regular chest X-rays. That previous finding was "very good news in the field," said Dr. Bruce Johnson of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, who treats lung cancer patients and reviewed the results for the news agency.

This latest study, published in the journal Lung Cancer, looked at death rates in a different, smaller population of heavy smokers, and estimated that those who received up to two CT scans would have between a 36 and 64 percent lower risk of dying, compared to those who went unscreened.

The data are "consistent" with earlier studies but there are still many issues to resolve regarding lung cancer screening, Johnson said.

For one, scientists haven't yet worked out how often to screen people, and when to start. It is not clear when or how guidelines for lung cancer screening could be drawn up, and until they are, insurers including government programs such as Medicare are unlikely to pay the average $300 cost of a scan.

Furthermore, an April study showed that 21 percent of a patient's initial lung CT scans show suspicious lesions that turn out not to be cancer, but lead to needless invasive follow-up procedures and radiation exposure, as well as stress and anxiety for patients and their families.

The high so-called "false positive" rate is an issue, said Dr. James Hanley of McGill University, who also reviewed the findings for the British news agency, but many mammograms also find lesions that turn out to be benign. And for lung cancer, doctors know there is a high false-positive rate and have a set protocol to follow in order to determine which lesions are dangerous, added Johnson.

Lung cancer kills 1.2 million people a year globally and it will kill 157,000 people in the United States alone this year, according to the American Cancer Society.

Tobacco use accounts for some 85 percent of lung cancer cases in the U.S., and one estimate puts a smoker's lifetime absolute risk of developing lung cancer between 12 percent and 17 percent. Five-year survival rates for lung cancer are low.

In recent years, CT scans, in particular, have been promoted by some hospitals and advocacy groups for lung cancer screening, even though studies had not yet shown definitively whether such screening saves lives.

In 2006, Dr. Claudia Henschke, currently based at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Arizona State University, caused a stir when she published a study concluding that 80 percent of lung-cancer deaths could be prevented through widespread use of spiral CT.

Her ideas were controversial to start with, especially when other researchers found her work had been paid for by a tobacco company.

In the current study, funded in part by manufacturers of CT scanners (along with government and other sources), Henschke and her colleagues compared outcomes for nearly 8,000 smokers and former smokers who volunteered to undergo CT scans to outcomes in two sets of people with smoking histories who were not scanned.

The three groups of people had some important differences, such as in average age and how long and heavily they had smoked, so the researchers had to use mathematical tools to try to eliminate the influence of those differences, said Hanley. For instance, to compare death rates, the researchers tracked how many people died among those who were screened, then pulled out all the people with similar underlying characteristics in the other two groups and looked at their death rates, Hanley explained.

A total of 64 people died in the screened population, the authors report -- but applying the death rate among people with the same underlying characteristics in one of the unscreened populations, they estimated that the number of deaths would have been 100. This translates into a 36 percent lower risk of dying among the screened population.

Applying the same methods to the other unscreened population, the authors estimated that screening was associated with a 64 percent lower risk of dying.

Overall, research is suggesting that CT scans of people at risk of lung cancer might make a dent in cancer mortality, and it's possible that more frequent screening might make an even bigger dent, Hanley noted. "If screening is going to work, you've got to keep at it."

‘Artificial pancreas’ shows promise in pregnancy

LONDON: Scientists have shown how an "artificial pancreas" can help pregnant women with type 1 diabetes and say their finding could significantly reduce cases of stillbirth and death among diabetic expectant mothers.

British researchers used a so-called "closed-loop insulin delivery system" or artificial pancreas, in 10 pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes and found it provided the right amount of insulin at the right time, maintained near normal blood sugar, and prevented dangerous drops in blood sugar levels at night.

"To discover an artificial pancreas can help maintain near-normal glucose levels in these women is very promising," said Helen Murphy of Cambridge University, who led the study.

The experimental artificial pancreas was created by combining a continuous glucose monitor, or CGM, with an insulin pump, both of which are already used separately by many people with type 1 diabetes.

Previous trials in children with the condition found that using an artificial pancreas system at night improved blood glucose control and reduced hypoglycaemia -- when the level of glucose in the blood falls too low.

The bodies of type 1 diabetes sufferers become unable to properly break down sugar and if untreated, bloodvessels and nerves are destroyed, organs fail and patients can die.

Pregnancy can be particularly risky for women with diabetes as hormonal changes make it very difficult to keep blood glucose levels within a safe range, especially at night.

As a result of high blood glucose levels, babies of women with diabetes are five times as likely to be stillborn, three times as likely to die in their first months of life and twice as likely to have a major deformity, the researchers said.

Data from previous studies suggest that pregnant women with type 1 diabetes spend an average of ten hours a day with glucose levels outside recommended targets, said Murphy, whose findings were published in thejournal Diabetes Care.

This increases the risk of birth defects, stillbirth, neonatal death, preterm delivery, oversized babies and other complications.

Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which the body destroys its own ability to make insulin, accounts for around 10 percent of all people with diabetes. The more common type 2 diabetes is often linked to bad diet and lack of exercise.

Iain Frame, director of research at the charity Diabetes UK, which part-funded the study, said that although it was a small and early stage trial, the results were encouraging.

"It's a fantastic example of how existing technologies...can be adapted and developed to benefit as many people with diabetes as possible," he said in a statement.

The researchers said more studies were now needed on larger numbers of women to validate their findings, and to see if the system could be developed for use outside of a hospital.

LG to unveil first full 3D smartphone

MADRID: The world's very first 3D smartphone will be unveiled by LG at Mobile World Congress (MWC) to be held on February 14 in Barcelona.

There will a live demo of LG’s 3D smartphone.

The LG Optimus 3D is aimed at addressing the lack of such a smartphone and the lack of 3D content issue.

Users will experience a full 3D experience right in the palm of their hands.

Concentrating on the 3D elements only the smartphone comes with a dual-lens camera offering 3D recording, the screen is a glasses-free LCD offering 3D viewing, HDMI and DNLA for 3D content sharing.

BB murder case; Non-bailable warrant of Musharraf issued

RAWALPINDI: Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Rawalpindi has issued non-bailable arrest warrant of former President Gen Pervaz Musharraf (retd) in Benazir Bhutto assassination case, Geo News reported on Saturday.

ATC-III judge Rana Nisar issued the order while hearing in Adiala Jail.

FIA presented an interim charge of the case in which statements of former DG National Crisis Cell and IB Chief were recorded and Musharraf was declared nominated accused.

Many stick with fast food after heart attack

NEW YORK: It would seem logical for patients who have had a heart attack to cut back on fast food.

Some devoted fast food eaters do. But six months later, more than half can still be found at their favorite fast food places at least once a week, according to a study in the American Journal of Cardiology.

Of nearly 2,500 heart attack patients studied by John Spertus, at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, 884 -- or 36 percent -- reported in a survey while still hospitalized that they had eaten fast food frequently in the month before their heart attack. "Frequently" was defined as once a week or more.

When Spertus and his colleagues checked back six months later, 503 were still eating fast food every week.

"Fast food consumption by patients with AMI (acute myocardial infarction) decreased 6 months after the index hospitalization, but certain populations -- including younger patients, men, those currently working, and less educated patients -- were more likely to consume fast food, at least weekly, during follow-up," he wrote.

"Novel interventions that go beyond traditional dietary counseling may be needed to address continued fast food consumption after AMI in these patients."

But the study showed that older patients and those who had bypass surgery were more likely to be avoiding fast food six months later.

The survey did not ask what menu items people ordered, and some in the restaurant business have pointed out that fast food isn't always limited just to burgers and fries.

But Spertus and his colleagues pointed out that the people in their study who kept eating fast food tended to have health profiles "consistent with selection of less healthy options."

Nine out of 10 patients in the study received dietary counseling before they left the hospital, but this didn't seem to affect that odds that frequent fast food eaters would improve their diets, and Spertus said this showed they needed more education after leaving the hospital.

"The problem is that patients are absorbing so much information at the time of their heart attack, that I just don't think they can capture and retain all the information they're getting," he told Reuters Health.

First Amendment Protects Protestors at Military Funerals

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the First Amendment of the Constitution protects the fundamentalist church members who regularly put together anti-gay protests just outside military funerals. While family members at the funerals have a difficult time dealing with the protests, the ruling indicates that there is nothing that can be done about the Westboro Baptist Church, of Topeka, Kansas, which has routinely been involved in such protests. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the court in the case, while Justice Samuel Alito dissented.

Noted Roberts, "Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and – as it did here – inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker. As a nation we have chosen a different course – to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate." Alito, however, strenuously disagreed with the majority, writing, "Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case."

As is regularly the case, the Westboro Baptist Church showed up at the funeral of Matthew Snyder, a soldier who died in Iraq in 2006. The group blames the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq on America’s acceptance of homosexuality and hold up signs at the funerals that read "Thank God for dead soldiers," "You’re Going to Hell" and "God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11.

Friends Worried About Recently Divorced Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera has played down any reports that she may be unhappy in the wake of her October, 2010 divorce from Jordan Bratman, but friends of the singer are worried about her behavior of late. Noted a friend of Aguilera’s, "She’s not being honest with herself. She’s saying she’s this strong independent woman and she’s fine, but what she’s not stepping back to realize is that moving on after a divorce is not easy. She thinks she’s gotten her life together and has already moved on, when maybe she still needs to process it some more."

Aguilera, of course, claims that she’s found love with her new beau Matthew Rutler, who is 25, but her behavior since starting to date him has been erratic. In February, the 30-year-old veteran singer messed up the words to the national anthem at the Super Bowl, and was noticeably drunk at a party for Jeremy Renner in January. A week ago, Rutler was arrested for DUI and Aguilera was thrown in jail, apparently for her own safety.

Some friends are worried that Rutler is having a bad influence on Aguilera, noting, "There’s a real concern about this guy, and a lot of her friends feel she needs to get away from him. Hopefully, what happened is a real wake up call. She is going out and drinking more.

Justin Bieber's Hair Sells for $40,000 on eBay

You have to hand it Justin Bieber. Whether you like his music or his image, the kid seems to have his heart in the right place. After recently raising millions for charity by asking fans to donate $17 to a water organization in honor of his 17th birthday, Bieber and Ellen have now collaborated on a quick-hit $40,000 boon for another charity. After recently cutting his famous locks, Bieber appeared on the Ellen show and gave her some of his hair. The winning bid on eBay was in excess of $40,000!

That is one serious Justin Bieber fan, or possibly someone who is going to try to use the DNA in the hair to clone the Biebs. Either way, what a great use of his incredible fan appeal. Instead of pushing harder to increase his fame and build his brand, Bieber is using his fame to call others to action on behalf of good causes. Obviously, many celebrities do outstanding charity work, but Bieber is only 17 years old and is in the midst of an amazing streak of success and fame. It would be understandable if his focus was on an upcoming album or tour. Instead, he's taking the time to make an immediate impact.

Kudos to his parents and the people who have helped to develop what appears to be a very stable and mature teenager. His actions at such a young age will have an even greater impact as a result of the example that he is setting for legions of young fans around the world.

Killer of Two U.S. Airmen in Germany May Have Acted Alone

The investigation into the shooting deaths of two U.S. Airmen is still ongoing at this time, but officials seem to be leaning toward the theory that the gunman acted alone. Information has surfaced leading authorities to believe that the shooter was a recently radicalized Islamist who acted on his own to kill American troops. Ironically, it is believed that the man is an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo, a nation that is generally very supportive of the U.S. because of its role in helping Kosovo separate from Serbia.

"The suspect is accused of killing two U.S. military personnel and seriously injuring two others," federal prosecutors said in a statement. "Given the circumstances, there is a suspicion that the act was motivated by Islamism."

The two injured Airmen are still in the hospital at this time, with at least one of them in critical condition, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. The investigation is continuing, with police speaking with family and friends of the shooter to try to determine his motives and if any other people were involved in the planning or execution of the attack.

In related news, U.S. General David Petraeus issued an apology for an errant attack by coalition forces that killed nine Afghan children who were gathering firewood.

France to enforce veil ban from April

PARIS: A New French law banning full-face veils in public places will take effect from next month - a move widely accepted as targeting the country's Muslim population.

The law follows France's burqa ban, which outlawed the wearing of the full-length garment worn by women in Islamic traditions. From 11 April, the full-face veil will be illegal to wear in public places - on the street, in the supermarket, in classrooms, in museums, on buses and in parks. The only exceptions to a woman wearing the niqab in public will be if she is travelling in a private car or worshipping in a religious place.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been accused of trying to secure the vote of the far-right with the new legislation. Critics have pointed out that tiny minority of women in France wear full niqab - Muslim groups have estimated that just a few hundred people, in a country with a population of five million, wear the garment.

Those falling foul of the new law will face fines of €150 and be forced to attend a citizenship class, which will outline the 'secular values' of the republic. Although, confusingly, Sarkozy gave a speech praising the "Christian heritage of France", reports British daily newspaper.

UK minister says Arab unrest can double crude prices

LONDON: The price of a barrel of crude could double if the unrest in the Arab world deteriorates, oil trader turned British international development minister Alan Duncan warned Saturday.

Duncan, who has 30 years' business experience in the Gulf, told that the price of a barrel of crude could top $200 (140 euros), well above the record high of $147 reached in July 2008.

If extremists used the instability in the Arab world to bomb oil tankers, pipelines or Saudi reserves, prices could even hit $250 a barrel, Duncan said.

Analysts fear such highs could trigger another recession in Britain.

"I've been saying in government for two months... $200 is on the cards if this goes wrong, if anyone is reckless and foments unrest. All I'm predicting is danger," said Duncan. "It could be very serious. If crude oil doubles, you're going to have a very serious spike (in petrol prices). Try living without it for a week."

The British government is under pressure over the price at the pumps, with 63 percent of the cost going to the exchequer.

If the worst happened, current prices of #1.30 ($2.10, 1.50 euros) a litre at the pump "could look like a luxury", Duncan said, warning of #4 a litre.

"A Twittered-up generation now has massive power. All Arab countries are moving on. But they are all different," he said. "The powers are shifting but you can't do it overnight. We are asking them to do at the flick of a switch what we took centuries to do. "The majority of these rulers are not dictators. These are countries with their own history and cultures.

EU drops Hollywood studios probe

BRUSSELS: European regulators dropped a probe into deals done by major Hollywood film studios that it feared would stifle access to digital screens for low-budget European movies.

"I am pleased that Hollywood studios considered our legitimate concerns and modified the contracts so that cinema-goers can watch both Hollywood blockbusters but also small budget and art-house films with the latest state-of-the-art technology," said Joaquin Almunia, European Union competition commissioner.

"As the majors concerned have modified those contracts, all ends well, like in a good film," Almunia's spokeswoman added.

Almunia's office said that an antitrust investigation probing investment deals concluded during the switchover from film projection to digital cinemas had closed after the big producers changed the terms of contracts signed.

"Several major US Hollywood film studios revised contract provisions relating to the financing and installation of digital projection equipment in cinemas," the commission said in a statement.

"The changes proposed by major Hollywood film studios will make it easier for independent and art-house distributors to have access to cinemas equipped with digital equipment," it said.