OPEC to boost output by 500,000 barrels
Isfahan: OPEC ministers have agreed to pump an extra half a million barrels of oil a day beginning April 1 in order to cool volatile markets, and has held out prospects of another production boost later if needed.

The move appeared in line with a proposal by OPEC's president, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah. The sheikh had suggested that OPEC agree to a rise in output of 500,000 barrels a day and follow it some time in the future, if necessary, with another hike of 500,000 barrels a day.

Iraq is exempt from OPEC quotas as it rebuilds, and the decision today to boost output will officially raise the group's ceiling to 27.5 million barrels a day, tying an output record.

But with Iraq and the propensity of OPEC members to bust quotas factored in, OPEC is already producing close to 29.5 million barrels a day.
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Former Worldcom CEO Ebbers convicted
New York: Bernard Ebbers, who built US company WorldCom from a Mississippi long-distance concern into a telecommunications giant, was convicted on Tuesday of engineering the colossal accounting fraud that sank the company.

A federal jury in New York deliberated for eight days before returning guilty verdicts on all counts - one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud and seven counts of false regulatory filings. The crimes carry up to 85 years in prison.

The conviction comes more than two years after a scandal unearthed $11 bn in cooked books. The conviction completes a staggering fall for Ebbers, who took a small long-distance company in Mississippi and merged with or acquired ever larger companies, earning him accolades and the nickname Telecom Cowboy.

WorldCom was driven into bankruptcy - the largest in US history - in the summer of 2002.
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