LONDON (AFP) – World oil prices rose slightly on Wednesday as traders awaited the weekly US energy report and digested slower-than-expected third-quarter American economic growth.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, added 35 cents to 76.37 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for January delivery increased 52 cents to 76.98 dollars.

"Today, all attention will be on the weekly US fuel inventories report," said VTB Capital commodities analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.

LONDON – World stock markets rose Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated that interest rates will remain at super-low levels for a while yet. Meanwhile, the dollar slid to a ten-month low against the yen after the central bank said the currency's decline had been 'orderly.'

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 28.89 points, or 0.5 percent, at 5,352.85 while Germany's DAX rose 29.89 points, or 0.5 percent, to 5,799.20. The CAC-40 in France was 24.87 points, or 0.7 percent, higher at 3,809.49.

SYDNEY (AFP) – Some 6,000 feral camels are running wild in a remote Australian outback community in search of water, smashing infrastructure and invading the airstrip, officials said on Wednesday.

As long-running drought grips parts of the country, residents of at least one central Australian town are scared to leave their homes because of the rampaging dromedaries, the Northern Territory government said.

"The community of Docker River is under siege by 6,000 marauding, wild camels," Local Government Minister Rob Knight said.

In recent weeks, the thirsty animals have invaded the township seeking water, taking over the airstrip and destroying facilities in their way.

KABUL – Afghanistan is hiking police salaries by between 33 and 67 percent, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday, to curb rampant corruption and boost recruitment in a force that suffers much higher casualty rates than the insurgency-wracked country's army.

Police are seen as crucial to improving security and eventually allowing foreign troops to go home. But many police complain they are underpaid and under-equipped. President Hamid Karzai has said he wants Afghan forces to take the lead in securing the nation within five years.

Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said salaries will increase from $180 (euro120) to $240 (euro160) for police in high-threat provinces — a 33 percent rise. In lower risk areas, they will increase to $200 (euro133) from the current $120 (euro80) — a 67 percent rise.

PARIS – The Great Debate gets under way Wednesday, led off with a grand question: 'For you, what does it mean to be French?'

This is neither a pompous academic exercise in France's elite schools nor a TV game show. It is the French government's effort to clarify — with citizen participation — the nation's values, increasingly fraught with tensions as customs brought in by immigrants, for instance, rub up against traditional French values.

France's immigration minister, Eric Besson, launched the national soul-searching, dubbed the Great Debate, earlier this month with a Web site where citizens can write about what they think it means to be French. Up to 32,000 contributions were posted in the first two weeks, according to the ministry.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Prosecutors in the genocide trial of a former Khmer Rouge prison chief demanded a 40-year jail sentence Wednesday for a man they described as responsible for snuffing out innocent lives and spreading terror across Cambodia.

Victims of the Khmer Rouge regime called the requested sentence for Kaing Guek Eav unacceptable, with many saying prosecutors should have demanded a life sentence for the 67-year-old former school teacher.

Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch (pronounced DOIK), commanded the notorious S-21 prison where those accused of disloyalty to the xenophobic communist regime were held. He oversaw the torture and execution of about 16,000 men, women and children during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule.

LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks rose while gold hit another record high and the dollar weakened on Wednesday after Federal Reserve minutes expressed confidence in the durability of the U.S. economic recovery.

Federal Reserve officials raised their growth estimate for 2010, helping to offset Tuesday's data showing the U.S. grew at a slower-than-expected pace in the third quarter. But they did not see employment picking up soon,

'Good macro news will always serve as a justification for a rise in the markets,' said Giuseppe-Guido Amato, strategist at German brokerage Lang & Schwarz.

MSCI's all-country world equities index was up 0.5 percent, while European shares rose 0.6 percent, with oil and mining stocks the main gainers.

'At the moment, it's about owning commodities -- above all, precious metals, but also oils,' Amato said.

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher opening on Wall Street on Wednesday ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, with investors awaiting a slew of economic data.

At 1000 GMT (5 a.m. EST), futures for the S&P 500,the Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq were up 0.4 to 0.5 percent.

At 1330 GMT (8:30 a.m. EST), the Commerce Department is scheduled to release personal income and consumption data for October. Economists in a Reuters survey expect a rise of 0.1 percent in income and a 0.5 percent increase in spending. In the previous month, income was unchanged and spending dipped by 0.5 percent.

The Commerce Department also releases October durable goods orders at 1330 GMT (8:30 a.m. EST), with economists in a Reuters survey expecting a 0.5 increase versus a 1.4 percent rise in September.

Asian stock markets rose modestly Wednesday in a session damped by evidence that recovery in the world's biggest economy is likely to be slow and bumpy. European shares were higher.

The muted gains in Asia came after data showed the U.S. economy did not grow as quickly as previously forecast in the latest quarter. The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, said the recovery will be slow and unemployment will remain high.

Oil prices hovered above $76 following a big tumble overnight while the dollar retreated against the euro and the yen.

Stock market momentum was weak as fund managers unloaded portions of their portfolios to lock in profits after months of liquidity-fueled gains, said Peter Lai, investment manager at DBS Vickers in Hong Kong.

'People are just waiting for some kind of catalyst to trigger profit-taking,' Lai said. 'The economic figures from the U.S. seem to be not that appealing.'

The Washington Post will close its remaining U.S. bureaus in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago at the end of the year to save money and will focus news efforts on covering the nation's capital.

Six correspondents are being offered jobs in Washington, while three news aides will be let go Dec. 31.

In a staff memo Tuesday, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli told workers that the paper needed to concentrate its 'journalistic firepower' on its central mission of covering Washington, D.C.

In the last decade, the paper has closed bureaus in Miami, Denver and Austin, Texas.

The Washington Post Co.'s earnings increased 69 percent in the third quarter partly due to cost-cutting measures. The company also owns Newsweek magazine, Kaplan education services and television properties.