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United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned on Wednesday that the world could face a surge in energy prices in case no price cap on Russian energy is introduced."Without a price cap we face the threat of a global price spike if the majority of Russian oil production is shuttered," Yellen said during a meeting with her British counterpart Nadhim Zahawi. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom chancellor of the exchequer remained confident a G7 price cap on Russian oil "will deliver" and urged more countries to support the action.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican central bank governor Guillermo Ortiz on Wednesday urged the government and food companies to renew price caps for tortillas that have acted as a buffer against inflation. Tortillas, thin corn patties, are a staple of the Mexican diet. After a price rise began fueling inflation toward the end of 2006, the government pressured food producers and retailers to limit prices for corn flour and tortillas. "For consumers, the price containment so far has been a success, and from my point of view it is important that this containment continues," Ortiz told reporters, according to a...

ROCHESTER, NY Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-Rochester) today unveiled a plan that she says will help stabalize gas prices in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In the last couple of weeks gas prices have increased dramatically, but Slaughter says that doesn't necessarily have to happen. Slaughter has introduced the "Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act." It would temporarily cap the price of gas at 2-dollars 50-cents a gallon. It would also direct the Secretary of Energy to develop criteria for declaring the sort of national fuel emergency that would trigger future price controls. Slaughter says if her plan garners enough support there could...

As gasoline prices topped $3 a gallon, Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, proposed a state constitutional amendment to allow regulatory control of pump prices. "Price caps aren't a solution to a dysfunctional market," said Dunn, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who plans to hold hearings later this fall on California's fuel costs. "However, they are a damage- control measure until solutions are developed." His bill, SCA18, would give the state Public Utilities Commission authority to regulate gasoline prices. Hawaii, which has the nation's highest fuel prices, began capping wholesale gasoline prices Thursday. On Friday, Attorney General Bill Lockyer, a...