Crude rose on Monday, snapping three sessions of losses, as a weaker U.S. dollar, a cold snap and geopolitical tensions provided support.

Turkish troops based in Afghanistan's Wardak province distributed 20 tons mutton to local needy people, a local newspaper reported Monday.

The aid package, which would be between $4 billion and $5 billion, would be spread out over five years starting in 2010, the Nikkei said.

A juice producing plant established with 11 million U.S. dollars has been inaugurated in the war-torn Afghan capital Kabul, a press release the Ministry for Agriculture and Livestock said Saturday.

The aim of the measures is an improvement of the flight control in the Afghan airspace. A better flight control is one of the priority projects of the Afghan Government and in urgent need of improvement and standardization to support increasing air traffic.

As the G20 summit came to a close in Pittsburgh, leaders highlighted their new plans to give more weight in economic decision making to emerging and developing economies.

A Russian consortium has paid one billion dollars to Venezuela to assure participation in exploiting the Orinoco oil fields, among the world's largest, officials said Sunday

Finance ministers and central bank governors of Group of 20 (G20) pledged on Saturday to boost the global economic recovery and to plan an exit strategy from the extraordinary economic stimulus when time is mature to take actions.

Vantus Bank was the largest of the five institutions to close, with total assets of $458 million and total deposits of about $368 million.

Work for the construction of first Afghan railway to begin within the next four months, a local newspaper reported Thursday.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday met with Minister of Overseas Development of United Kingdom(UK) Douglas Alexander and discussed the current situation in Afghanistan and the region, according to a statement issued by the presidential palace.

"Goods over 2 million U.S. dollars have turned to ashes," a shopkeeper Hajji Ghulam Ali told Xinhua, adding that inside the market there were several shops of liquid gas and oxygen.

The Group of Eight summit expanded on Friday for talks with African leaders on how rich countries can help the hungry nations. G8 leaders unveiled a 20 billion dollar initiative to boost agricultural investment and food security in poorer countries.

Oil rebounded in Asian trade Wednesday after falling overnight on figures showing declining consumer confidence in the United States, the world's biggest energy user, analysts said.

The Senate on Wednesday approved tripling U.S. aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for each of the next five years, part of an American plan to fight extremism with economic development.

The business contraction in the 16 countries using the euro was the shallowest for nine months in June, despite a steep decline in the service sector, a survey showed on Tuesday.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, was down 39 cents to 69.16 dollars a barrel

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, shed 1.82 dollars from Thursday's close to end at 69.55 dollars a barrel after climbing past 72 dollars.

Oil prices soared above $71 a barrel Wednesday in Asia, reaching a 2009 high, as investors poured money into the commodity as a hedge against a weakening U.S. dollar and inflation.

Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region is to export oil to its neighbours for the first time on Monday. Oil firms developing the region's oil fields expect output to start at 40,000 barrels per day.