Washington, Dec 24 - Americans have been spending more for the last two months as their personal income rose the

most in six months, but a surprise drop in new home sales to a seven-month low sent mixed signals about US economic recovery.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday income climbed by 0.4 percent, or $49.7 billion, during November, after an upwardly revised 0.3 percent rise in October. That was the biggest gain since May, when it rose 1.5 percent.

Singapore  - Rice researchers Monday called on Asian governments to invest more in agricultural infrastructure and development to prevent another rice crisis in the region due to dwindling supplies and rising prices.

"We have to be vigilant, we have to be cautious," said Robert Zeigler, director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), in Singapore.

Paris  - The French government plans to tax households and companies 14 euros (20 dollars) for every ton of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said in an interview to be published Saturday by Le Figaro magazine.

The amount is substantially less than the 32 euros per ton recommended by a bipartisan commission headed by former prime minister Michel Rocard.

In addition, carbon dioxide related to the production of electricity will not be included in the proposed law.

Hong Kong  - The global recession may have dented property and stock values in Hong Kong but the price of true love remains almost as dear as in boom times in the city of 7 million, a survey released Monday found.

The average couple spent more than 29,000 US dollars on their wedding ceremonies and banquets in 2009, the survey of 1,800 couples found, only 3.3 per cent less than in 2008.

Vienna  - Vienna's trade-in programme for old bicycles was expanded, the city government announced Wednesday, after hundreds of citizens signed up for a cash reward to upgrade to new pedals.

The Austrian capital doubled the number of subsidized bicycles from 1,000, paying 70 euros (100 dollars) for each trade-in.

So far, 300 cyclists have signed up, with hundreds more on the waiting list.

According to a statement made by the National Economic Council Director, Larry Summers, while a full economic recovery may take its course to materialize, the stimulus plan of the Obama administration is working and the past few months have seen the economy stabilize.

Saying that joblessness may likely rise in the months ahead, as the complete impact of the $787 billion stimulus plan may be felt only until 2010, Summers remarked: "We were at the brink of catastrophe at the beginning of the year, but we have walked some substantial distance back from the abyss."

Wellington  - The New Zealand economy, which is officially in the fifth consecutive quarter of recession, is showing the first signs of recovery, Westpac bank chief economist Brendan O'Donovan said on Tuesday.

"The economy is turning the corner after 18 months of misery," he said. "Times are still very tough, but if it were not for the threat of swine flu, we would say that the recession has already ended."

Paris  - Global demand for oil, which fell in 2008 and is projected to fall again this year, will rebound in 2010, driven largely by emerging economies, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Friday.

"Global oil demand is expected to bounce back by 1.7 per cent, or 1.4 mb/d (million barrels per day) year-on-year to 85.2 mb/d," the IEA said in its Monthly Oil Report.

The rebound is projected to be led by countries outside the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

New York/Nairobi - Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay 15.5 million dollars to settle a lawsuit accusing it of human rights abuses brought by the families of activists executed in Nigeria.

The case was due to go to court in New York next week, but Shell settled in a move it said was not an admission of guilt.

Nine people, including prominent Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, were arrested in 1994 and hanged for allegedly ordering the murder of four local leaders.

Essen, Germany - Creditors who have taken control of a chain of 54 German department stores, voted Wednesday to close down the loss-making Hertie chain, putting 2,600 people out of work.

A British private-equity fund acquired Hertie four years ago, but was unable to nurse it back to profit.

"The staff are shocked," said Bernd Horn, chief labour representative at the company's head office in Essen.

Frankfurt - German sportswear and equipment maker Adidas AG said Tuesday it planned to step up its restructuring efforts after reporting a 97-per-cent plunge in first-quarter net profit.

With the global economic downturn gaining momentum earlier this year, the world's second-biggest sporting goods maker after Nike said net profit in the first three months of the year dropped to 5 million euros (6.69 million dollars) from 169 million euros in the same period in 2008.

Maputo - African countries should adopt pricing systems that allow the widest possible access to telecommunication services, said an official with Mozambique's telecommunications regulating authority on Monday.

Isidoro Pedro da Silva, chairman of the board of administration for the Instituto Nacional das Comunicacoes de Mocambique, made the comments at the opening of a four-day conference organized by INCM.

Rome - It was puns galore as Italy on Friday gushed over US President Barack Obama's announcement of Italian carmaker Fiat's alliance with Detroit's bankrupt Chrysler.

"Topolino (little mouse) saves the giant," trumpeted Rome daily La Repubblica, paying tribute to Fiat's classic 500cc model car.

Il Sole 24 Ore, in its headline, referenced a recent hit film by action-hero Clint Eastwood named after the star's car, a Gran Torino - even if the model in question was a Ford.

Berlin - Around 10,000 dairy farmers in three German cities protested Wednesday about the collapse of milk prices to around 0.20 euros (26 cents) per litre.

"We are standing with our backs to the wall," said Romuald Schaber, chairman of the Federation of German Dairy Farmers (BDM), at a rally in the northern city of Hanover.

Dairy farmers are seeking a two-fold increase in the amount they are paid for their milk as well as a retention of milk quotas due to disappear under European Union regulations in 2015.

Dhaka - Saudi Arabia promised to recruit more Bangladeshi workers, while reassuring Dhaka that complications over work permits faced by over 2 million Bangladeshi workers already in the kingdom would be resolved, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said Saturday. Moni made the comments while briefing reporters on the recent five-day visit by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed to the kingdom.

Berlin - The German government has demanded that potential Opel investors preserve jobs and factories in Germany, the German daily Bild reported. "Every investor must strengthen Germany," Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee said in an interview to be published Sunday. "Anyone who wants to close plants and cut jobs is not a suitable Opel partner," Tiefensee added.

Warsaw, April 24: India and Poland on Friday signed two agreements -- one on bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector and the second on cooperation in the health and medicine sector.

Katarzyna Sobierajska, Under Secretary of State in the Polish Ministry of Sport and Tourism signed the agreement on tourism cooperation from the Polish side. Minister of State for Industry, Ashwani Kumar, signed on behalf of the Indian side.

Tokyo - Japan's largest brokerage house, Nomura Holings Inc, incurred a record net loss for fiscal 2008 that ended March 31, the firm said Friday.

The record loss amounted to 709.44 billion yen (7.24 billion dollars) after the firm was hit hard by the global financial turmoil and the burden of taking over part of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc in September last year.

Nomura also posted a net loss of 67.85 billion yen in fiscal 2007.

Wellington - New Zealand's budget deficit is spiralling out of control as the country enters its sixth-consecutive quarter of economic contraction, Finance Minister Bill English warned Wednesday.

If growth in public expenditures is not checked, the deficits would hit 45 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in four years and an unsustainable 70 per cent by 2023, he told business leaders in Auckland.

Observers said the speech clearly paved the way for the conservative National Party-led government to cancel tax cuts for the next two years that it had promised in its successful campaign for election in November.

Geneva - An initiative was put forward Tuesday at the World Trade Organization to fight protectionism with a proposal asking countries to commit not to take any trade restricting measures to work their way out of the economic crisis. The standstill commitment, tabled by Hong Kong, would ask members to voluntarily refrain from any moves which would have an adverse impact or distorting effect on trade even if they did not violate WTO rules, officials with the agency said.