JERUSALEM (Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy began a peace-brokering tour of the Middle East by calling on Monday for a ceasefire between Israel’s army and Hamas Islamists, locked in combat in the Gaza Strip. In the first half of his two-day visit to the region, Sarkozy said Israel had …

MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) – Russia reduced gas flows to Europe via Ukraine on Monday, a measure it said was to stop its neighbor siphoning off fuel but which Kiev said could jeopardize supplies to European countries including Germany. Countries in southern and eastern Europe reported new falls in gas supplies from …

LONDON (Reuters) – Iraq earned about $60 billion from average crude oil sales of 1.85 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2008, a top Iraqi oil official said on Monday. Shipments rose by about 200,000 bpd on the previous year and revenues were up about $20 billion, according to data …