IBT Staff Reporter

OPEC member Venezuela will increase oil production gradually in 2010, then even more next year, President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday.

In response to a report that nearly half a million Australians are in urgent need of dental care, NSW Premier Kristina Keneally is being urged to lobby the federal government for a national dental health service.

The Australian Dollar did not revisit the sub 0.8100 territory on Friday's trade as it did the previous day

South Australia (SA) has had the highest rate of donors per million of population in the country for the past six years, almost double the national rate.

North Korea's crumbling economy is feeling the effects of sanctions for nuclear and ballistic missile activities, with foreign trade falling 10 percent in 2009 from the previous year, South Korea said on Monday.

The Aussie opens at 0.8310 on Monday. Unsubstantiated rumours of Reserve Bank intervention and technical support just above US80-cents halted the recent dramatic slide in the currency on Friday.

Shares of Sprint Nextel could rise to about $6 a share, helped by the introduction of a mobile phone that works on the carrier's new high-speed network, according to business weekly Barron's.

Dubai plans to set up a program to address weaknesses in its financial system while the United Arab Emirates will open a debt management office to coordinate on issuance for state-linked companies, an official said on Sunday.

British Airways cabin crew were bound for a five-day strike this week after the airline and union leaders failed to resume talks on Sunday, blaming each other for the communication breakdown.

British Airways cabin crew will call off a five-day strike due to start on Monday if their travel perks are reinstated, Unite union co-leader Tony Woodley said on Sunday.

The Treasury is re-looking at plans to float the Asian unit of AIG in case a bid by Prudential to buy the AIA fails, two British newspapers reported on Sunday.

State-controlled Maaden on Sunday said it awarded contracts worth $453 million for its planned Saudi-based aluminum joint-venture with Alcoa Inc .

Volatility will be the name of the game on Wall Street this week as uncertainty over the euro-zone debt crisis remains and investors will need nerves of steel to make bets on risky assets like stocks.

Paris police advised people against going to the Champ de Mars area Sunday evening where a mass cocktail party organized over the internet is due to take place.

A five-day strike by British Airways cabin crew due to start on Monday looks set to go ahead after the union said it would not hold any further talks with management, the BBC reported.

Former Morgan Stanley banker John Hyman will not join Nomura to become its new co-head of global finance at its London operation as had been expected due to regulatory issues, a source said on Saturday.

Russian Internet investment group Digital Sky Technologies, which bought a $300 million stake in Facebook last year, is preparing to buy stakes in dozens of well-known Internet companies, its chief executive said.

Adalberto Lopez' family-run musical instrument shop in the bustling Arizona border city of Nogales sells guitars and accordions to foot-stomping banda musicians and mariachis who cross up from Mexico to shop.

Europe's financial crisis should have only minimal impact on the global recovery as governments put in place necessary policy counter-measures, a senior U.S. Treasury Department official said Sunday.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou ruled out defaulting on debt payments or restructuring in a Spanish newspaper interview published on Sunday.

British Airways will not be grounded if the first of three five-day cabin crew strikes goes ahead on Monday, chief executive Willie Walsh said on Sunday.

Globally, commodity prices have stabilized after a week of declines although Reuters-Jefferies CRB commodities index dropped 2.3% on the week and 9% so far this month, Financial Times (FT) reported. The report quoting Adam Sieminski, energy economist at Deutsche Bank in Washington said that a combination of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, credit tightening in China and a cluster of worrisome economic indicators in the US has revived concerns about a W-Shaped recovery.

The U.S. Justice Department has dropped a probe of American International Group Inc executives involving the credit default swaps that sent the insurer to the brink of bankruptcy and forced a huge taxpayer bailout, lawyers for the executives said on Saturday.

Germany's parliament approved on Friday a $1 trillion safety net to stabilize the euro as fears swirled that Europe's debt crisis and tougher financial regulation may choke economic recovery.

American International Group Inc on Saturday praised a Justice Department decision it did not specifically identify, but may relate to published reports that federal prosecutors will not charge company executives over credit default swaps.

Negotiations aimed at avoiding three five-day strikes by British Airways cabin crew ended without resolution on Saturday after protesters gate-crashed talks between union leaders and the airline in London.

UAE-based low cost airline Air Arabia will begin flights on its new Egypt-based carrier in June after it received an operating certificate from Egyptian authorities, the company said on Saturday.

Telecom equipment venture Nokia Siemens Networks aims for an operating profit margin of up to 3 percent on revenue of between 3.1-3.4 billion euros ($3.88-$4.25 billion) in the current quarter, according to a Sunday newspaper.