Oil prices have hit a Saudis to retrain 40,000 clerics ...
Vatican-Saudi talks on churches ... record high above $127 a barrel on fresh worries about global supplies.

US light sweet crude jumped to $127.43 a barrel, ignoring a forecast from producers' cartel Opec this week that the world will need less oil in 2008.

London Brent crude also climbed, touching $125.82 a barrel.

Prices have surged about 25% since January, lifted by geopolitical worries and the weakening US dollar, which makes oil cheaper for foreign buyers.

The latest price rise comes as US President George W Bush flies into Saudi Arabia to urge the kingdom to pump more crude and help bring prices down.

The US has already agreed to help protect Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure from terrorists and help it develop environmentally cleaner energy options.

But so far, oil cartel Opec, of which Saudi Arabia is a key member, has refused to increase production, insisting that the price rises have been driven by speculators and not real demand problems.

(BBC)

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