Dubai is all set to initiate a set of short-term visas for foreign investors in the real estate segment, a top official said. This would allow realty investors in Dubai to travel in and out of the UAE to follow up their investments in the property market.

Marwan Bin Galita, CEO of Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) said: "We have submitted the proposals to this effect to the higher government authority. Once this law is approved, this might be implemented at a federal level as well. There is no direct link between property ownership and residence visas. Developers should not lure investors to property sector with a promise of residence visa."

The comments reverse the government's earlier stand on visas for realty owners in Dubai. In the absence of a proper real estate law since opening up property sector to foreign nationals in 2004, the three master developers - Emaar, Nakheel and Dubai Properties - promised to facilitate a three-year renewable residence visas to owners of freehold properties under a special arrangement with the residency department.

A faltering dollar, Mideast tensions and concerns over supply disruptions out of Nigeria propelled oil prices above $138 a barrel Tuesday, less than $2 away from crude's trading record.

The crude futures market was also showing disappointment over Saudi Arabia's modest production increase announced Sunday at a meeting of oil producing and consuming nations. The kingdom said it would pump more crude oil this year if the market needs it. That fell far short of hopes for a larger increase.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose $1.38 to $138.10 a barrel by noon in European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.38 to settle at $136.74 a barrel Monday.

The increase put crude close to the trading record of $139.89 reached early this month.

Nokia Corp (NOK1V.HE) is buying out other shareholders of handset software firm Symbian Ltd and will make the software royalty-free to respond to new rivals such as Google (GOOG.O).

Symbian's software is used in two-thirds of smartphones -- handsets with computer-like capabilities -- and 6 percent of all cellphones, but new platforms such as Google's Android and Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhone could challenge its dominance.

"The move's a shrewd response to growing threats from other providers of mobile phone software," said Geoff Blaber of UK-based research firm CCS Insight, citing the open-source LiMo Foundation as well as Google and Apple.

Currently, Symbian's closest rival is Microsoft's (MSFT.O) Windows Mobile operating system.

Hong Kong-based boutique developer Maison Limited has unveiled its first project in Dubai, 'Maison Residence Collection' at Downtown Jebel Ali. The $234m, G+17 residential tower will be located on Phase Four of Downtown Jebel Ali.

Qatargas has signed a sales and purchase agreement to supply two million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas under a 25-year agreement to China National Offshore Oil Corporation. The LNG will be delivered into five terminals in China, Fujian LNG Terminal and Guangdong LNG which are already operational, with Shanghai LNG Terminal to start in 2009. The supplies will also go to Zhejian LNG and Hainan LNG Terminals when they become operational.

Turkey's bid to beat Germany and reach the final of Euro 2008 is in danger of being wrecked by injuries and suspensions.

The Turkish team which faces Germany in the semi-final at St Jakob Park on Wednesday (7:45 British time) will be very different from the one that beat Croatia on penalties in Friday's quarter-final in Vienna.

Turkey will definitely be without six players and possibly more depending on how they respond to treatment before kickoff.

"Of course having lots of injured players is hard but the players who fill their places will give their utmost," forward Semih Senturk told a news conference on Monday.

Semih scored the last gasp extra-time equalizer in the win over Croatia and said their constant comebacks in the tournament boded well.

Crude oil futures swung wildly on Monday, rising to a record and then tumbling as investors wrestled with whether they should put stock in Saudi Arabia's promise to boost production. Retail gas prices rose to a record $4.08 a gallon.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery fell 25 cents to settle at $134.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier soaring to a trading record of $139.89. Earlier, they dropped as low as $132.84.

With little in the way of news to explain oil's turnabout, analysts pointed to Saudi Arabia's weekend decision to boost production and to Tuesday's expiration of crude options, which are agreements to buy or sell futures at higher or lower prices.

Trading is often volatile in the days immediately preceding options expiration. "That could be the cause of some of the volatility today," said James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla.-based trading firms Liberty Trading Group and OptionSellers.com.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, told U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon over the weekend that it would boost oil output by 200,000 barrels a day, or by 2 percent, from June to July. In May, the kingdom raised production by 300,000 barrels a day.

Make more than $250,000 a year? Watch out. Barack Obama wants to raise your income taxes. Social Security taxes, too.

Run a corporation? Lucky you. John McCain wants to cut your business taxes.

Those positions illustrate pieces of two vastly different approaches to the economy, an issue at the forefront of voters' minds given that the country is teetering on the brink of — if not already in — a recession as gas prices soar and layoffs rise amid a credit crisis and a housing slump.

Obama, the Democrat, seemingly has a traditional liberal outlook of taxing the rich more while having the government help people of more modest means through tax breaks. McCain, the Republican, advocates a classic conservative vision of cutting taxes — many geared toward businesses — to promote competition within a free-market system.

Neither plan is cheap.

The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan joint project of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, gives a preliminary estimate that over the next decade, McCain's tax proposals would reduce federal revenues $3.7 trillion while Obama's cuts would amount to $2.7 trillion.