Royal Dutch Shell announced Thursday that net profits rose seven percent to 3.463 billion dollars in the third quarter from one year ago, driven by higher output, rising oil prices and lower costs.

However the net profit figure, equivalent to 2.503 billion euros, also included a massive 1.442 billion dollars of impairments and writedowns on the value of assets, Shell said in a results statement.

Queen Elizabeth II formally welcomed the emir of Qatar to Britain on Tuesday for a trip aimed at boosting growing trade links and both countries' bids for the football World Cup.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani shook hands with the British monarch upon their meeting in Windsor, west of London, as the military sounded a gun salute.

The British economy turned in surprisingly robust official growth of 0.8 percent in the third quarter on Tuesday, soothing fears of a double-dip recession a week after dramatic public spending cuts.

And on a 12-month comparison, growth was 2.8 percent, the Office for National Statistics said, the strongest 12-month reading since 2007.

Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil on Friday set the average subscription fee to private power generation in all Lebanese areas at LBP 350/kWh for the 5 amperes category.

Bassil noted that this measure enables citizens and municipalities to hold accountable the providers of private power generation in the country. However, he added that it also respects the rights of the providers.

The United Arab Emirates said on Friday that a planned ban on BlackBerry services that had been due to come into effect next week will not go ahead.

"BlackBerry services will carry on as usual and will not be suspended on October 11," said a statement from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) carried by the state WAM news agency.

BP's damaged public image was left in tatters Friday after furious U.S. lawmakers pilloried the energy giant's boss, accusing him of stonewalling on the causes of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

In hostile questioning on Thursday, lawmakers tried and failed to win answers about the spill from BP's chief executive Tony Hayward.