The hiking rates of Reserve bank of India may shatter your dreams to buy your dream cars. The interest rates on car loans have been lifted up anything between 75 - 100 basis points, by Car loan lenders. This increase will result in Rs 50 monthly increase on a five year loan which has a daily rest basis.

According to report of the Direct selling agents (DSAs) of ICICI Bank to TOI, they have received a communique from the bank about the hike effective from Monday. Officials said, “We used to lend at rack rates of 15% per annum, we are now been told that the new rates will be 16% effective from Monday,”

Brokerage firm, Indiabulls Financial Services, denied media reports hinting their participation in any fake trading or price fixing in the futures & options (F&O) segment.

According to a company release that Indiabulls Securities or any of its group companies have not been concerned in any counterfeit trading or price fixing in F&O division and have not traded directly or indirectly on its own account in the 23 trades on the F&O segment as mentioned in the SEBI order.

Anil Manghnani of Modern Shares & Stock Brokers is of the view that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has trading target of Rs 1200.

Anil Manghnani of Modern Shares & Stock Brokers is of the view that above Rs 184, ITC can test Rs 201.

Anil Manghnani of Modern Shares & Stock Brokers has suggested investors to exit Polaris Software Lab on rally.

Manghnani told, "Polaris is very weak. It’s fallen from Rs 237 all the way to Rs 104; this stock has a history of painfully hitting people by moving up sharply and then giving up all the gains over a six-month period. As of now it’s very weak on the charts and its just look like a technical bounce, my advice is to sell into every rally, just trading levels will be Rs 125 then Rs 137 and Rs 143, somewhere around the high level to get out of the stock."

BSNL has awarded the contract to leading telecom equipment maker Ericsson & Nokia Siemens network for upgrading its technical services.

The high bandwidth of Nokia Siemens Networks' will allow BSNL to deliver high data and triple-play intensive services such as Video on Demand, Video Multicast, IPTV, Video Conferencing, and VPN to its many customers.

Technical analyst Ashwani Gujral has suggested that Unitech can be purchased below Rs 428 with a stop loss of Rs 380. This is a delivery based call for a short term target of Rs 550.

Unitech Group is one of the major township planning and real estate development companies in India. The robust plans of Unitech Builder to make 4,000 top-of- the-line apartments priced at Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million) each in the coming quarters can help the company to show decent number in coming quarters.

At National Stock Exchange, the stock has touched 52-week high of Rs 454.25 and a low of Rs.93.

Based on current price, the stock is trading at a P/E of 54.16 with earnings per share of Rs.7.92.

The study, led by Professor Joseph G. Grzywacz, Ph.D., of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, has found that workplace flexibility, including telecommuting and job shares, is good for employees' health.

On Tuesday, letting out the findings of the study, the research revealed that flexibility at workplaces not only helps boosting employees' morale, but also helps developing healthier lifestyle habits in them.

San Francisco – The Port Washington, NY based global market research company, NPD Group has affirmed that Apple's new OS X Leopard is the best ever operating system on the market. According to the company, Apple's OS X Leopard got a brilliant start with the company moving 2 million copies of the operating system in just two days; the sales of Leopard during its first full month on store shelves beat out all other operating systems Apple has ever released.

India's market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has introduced mini-contracts in the derivatives markets based on the Sensex and the Nifty indices to attract retail investors into the ever-growing derivatives market.

The step comes in the backdrop of recommendations of the Derivatives Market Review Committee (DMRC) headed by Professor M. Rammohan Rao.

The country's biggest private sector lender ICICI Bank has finally disclosed its plans to list four subsidiaries.

The process would start with the listing of India`s biggest private sector lender, brokerage arm ICICI Securities which is excepted to hit the stock market soon.

While replying to a query on whether the first of the subsidiaries would hit the market in next three to six months, ICICI Bank MD and CEO KV Kamath said, "I would think that six-month period is a fair expectation... we have not yet taken the board approval."

Washington, January 13: Japanese company Toyota has topped the list of automobile manufacturers whose cars are considered to be the most environmentally friendly vehicles by US consumers.

The list was compiled in accordance with the findings of a survey of 2,000 adults.

During the survey, 49 per cent of the people surveyed said that they considered Toyota to be a green brand.

Second on the list was Honda with 26 per cent of consumers accepting it as a green brand, reports the Environmental News Network.

This was followed by Ford with 16 per cent consumers saying that its vehicles are environmentally friendly.

New Delhi, Jan 14: Apart from a bevy of high-profile launches, the 9th Auto Expo has attracted a record number of automobile and component makers, informatics firms and dealers from India and all over the world.

This year the navigation devices are the major source of attraction at car accessory pavilion.

Car entertainment companies from across the world are showcasing a bewildering array of products that combine entertainment with navigation.

Mumbai, Jan 15: The Reliance Power Initial Public Offer (IPO) today opened with enthusiasm and the issue was oversubscribed 9.1 times.

The three-billion IPO was oversubscribed within hours of opening of its book building process. The company has come out with an IPO in the price band of 405-450 per share. The issue opened today and will close January 18.

The company would raise 10, 530 crore rupees at the lower end of the price band, while it would garner 11,700 crore rupees at the higher end. The IPO income will be used to part-finance 13 medium to large sized power projects.

New York-headquartered, BlackRock has acquired the 40% stake held by Merrill Lynch in mutual fund DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers. The mutual fund house will be renamed DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund while DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers will be renamed ‘DSP BlackRock Investment Managers’.

The remaining 60 per cent will continue to be held by the DSP Group (Hemendra Kothari and his associate companies).

Hemendra Kothari, chairman of DSSML-FM, said the deal is in line with the realignment of Merrill Lynch asset management business and there is no cash transaction involved.

New Delhi, Jan 31 (ANI): Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said 2006-07 has recorded a growth of 9.6 per cent in the economy, and expressed confidence that it would be nearly 9 per cent in 2007-08.

Chidambaram told reporters immediately after the release of the figures of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the year 2006-07 that the government would try and maintain same level of growth and would make rapid adjustments depending on the evolving global economic situation.

"My goal is to continue to maintain the same level of growth but at the same time government reserves the right to make rapid adjustments depending on evolving global economic situation," he said.

Islamabad, Feb. 4: The Federal Board of revenue in Pakistan has said in its latest report that only three percent of the country’s business outfits have paid taxes for fiscal 2007-08.

The News quoted a senior official of the board as saying that out of the 45,000 industrial and commercial units registered in Pakistan, only 1,352 major units contributed 94.1 per cent of the total tax collection for the year.

"This is most alarming situation for the economy that slumps in the tide of rising terror that disrupts the growth and even the operation of trade and industry, leading to downswing in tax collection by 23 per cent in June-January period of 2007-08 (current fiscal year)," the official said.

London, Feb 7 : A UK strip club has been banned from using a raunchy billboard ad, which shows a scantily-clad woman holding a foaming bottle of champagne.

Grace in North Street, Brighton, has been ordered by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) not to use the provocative poster, after seven people complained that the ad was inappropriate and some said it could cause offence to children.

The advert shows a kneeling blonde model in underwear with popped cork flying through the air above the words 'where fantasy becomes reality'.

London, Feb 7 : An Austrian cinema has employed a unique technique to lure more customers – allowing their pet dogs into the theatre.

The old Admiral cinema in Vienna has been struggling to attract customers after construction of multiplex cinemas nearby.

Thus bosses have started a monthly "Doggy Day" in a bid to attract more cinema-goers.

Visitors pay four pounds for a ticket while their pet pooches can go in for free and be given a blanket in which to snuggle up in their seats, as well as water and popcorn.

New Delhi, Feb. 27: Repeating its feat of 2007, Aptech garnered the maximum awards for franchising at the celebrated Indian Franchising Awards 2008 held in New Delhi.

Bagging four awards at the event organized by the "Franchising Association of India", Aptech has re-inforced its standing as a premier franchisor in the country with a franchise network that extends across more than 35 countries.

A global IT solutions provider NIIT Technologies announced that the company has signed up a share purchase agreement with Softech GmbH.

Under the agreement, NIIT Technologies will buy 100 percent share capital of Softec GmbH.

Softec GmbH is German-based Company providing IT solutions in airlines revenue accounting. The company also holds a major market share of about 40 small to medium airlines within Europe, Africa and Asia.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has made announcement about the major changes in the Management Committee of the company.

The company has nominated Nitin Paranjpe, currently Executive Director, Home & Personal Care, as the new Managing Director and CEO of the company.

The recent declaration makes the 44 years-old Paranjpe, the youngest CEO & MD of the country’s biggest FMCG company.

Douglas Baillie, now MD and CEO of HUL, has been brought up to join the Unilever Executive as the President, Western Europe.

London, Mar. 2: Britons are throwing about 20 million tons of food out each year, which is the equivalent of half of the food import needs for the whole of Africa.

According to a report in The Independent, about 16 million tons of food is wasted in homes, shops, restaurants, hotels and food manufacturing.

Much of the rest is thought to be destroyed between the farm field and the shop shelf.

The issue has come to the fore as supermarkets fight off criticism over billions of plastic carrier bags handed out free each year.

Varanasi, Mar 13: Toy industry of Varanasi is losing its sheen as it has been forced to use low quality woods following the ban on 'Koraiyya' wood traditionally used for making toys.

The cottage industry has suffered a setback due to the ban on the supply of Korraiya wood as per the forest preservation act.

The colorfully designed toys depicting dolls, animals, birds and other figurines have been in huge demand besides the domestic markets in many countries including France, Russia, Germany and Hong Kong.

Washington, March 16: Taiwanese researchers have created a mathematical model, based on the principle of natural selection, which can enable people interested in share market to predict whether any company is likely to fail.

The expert duo — Ping-Chen Lin of the National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences in Kaohsiung and Jiah-Shing Chen of the National Central University in Jhongli — says that a plethora of changing and interconnected factors make it difficult to predict any company’s chances of success or failure.

The researchers say that they have now borrowed some of the principles of evolutionary biology to come up with a computer algorithm to make such predictions possible.

ICICI Lombard, Country's second-largest health insurer, is partnering with US-based UnitedHealth Group, to provide health insurance products to Indian travelers.

Under the agreement, any of ICICI Lombard's 1.6 million policyholders traveling to the US will get access to UnitedHealthcare's preferred provider network as well as medical management and organized resources that align to their health needs.

London, Mar 24 : When it comes to the household brand the British love the best, no one can beat Heinz.

Heinz, famous for its "57 Varieties" slogan, is an American processed-food product company with its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The company beat Kellogg to take the top spot on the list.

Coming in as the third best-loved brand in the country was Coca-Cola, reports the Daily Record.

London, Mar 25 : A Brit woman who could not get out of her trousers to go to the loo dialled emergency and claimed to be locked in a chastity belt.

Robeena Cheema’s real belt buckle had jammed and she needed help. But because she knew that rescuers would not treat it as an emergency, she claimed that she was stuck in a chastity belt.

Twelve firefighters went to help after her call and opened the buckle despite the false claim.

“The belt had been stuck for two hours and I just had to go,” The Sun quoted Robeena, as saying.

Berlin - Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has deposed Chancellor Angela Merkel from top of the list of Germany's most popular politicians, according to a survey released Friday.

An opinion poll conducted for German semi-public broadcaster ZDF showed the Social Democrat (SPD) minister with a rating of 1.7, marginally higher than Merkel's 1.6.

Steinmeier is considered a potential challenger to Merkel for the chancellorship in national elections due to take place in September 2009.

He is currently vice chancellor in the grand coalition with Merkel's Christian Democratic Party (CDU).

The survey showed that 39 per cent would vote for the CDU against 28 per cent for the SPD if elections were to be held now.

Brussels - The European Union's 27 member states in 2007 spent less money on development aid for the first time since 2000, the European Commission said on Friday.

According to the commission, payments were down to 46.1 billion euros (72.47 billion dollars) in 2007, compared with 47.7 billion euros the previous year.

Main reason for the drop in aid relief was an end to the rise of debt relief packages granted to several developing countries.

Commission President Jose Manual Barroso urged member states to increase their payments to the world's poorest countries.

The EU is the world's largest aid donor, with an average contribution of 93 euros per EU citizen.

Amman - Volatility and speculation are expected to reign at Arab stock markets in the coming couple of weeks, as investors monitor first quarter results and other moving factors, financial analysts said Friday.

"We expect regional markets to remain volatile in the coming few weeks pending the release of first quarter results," Wajdi Makhamreh, Deputy CEO of the Amman-based Sanabel International Brokerage, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"I believe the improving performance at international markets and the adamantly soaring oil prices will reflect positively on Arab bourses, particularly in the oil-rich Gulf region," he said.

Berlin - German factory orders unexpectedly fell for the third consecutive month in February, data released Friday showed, helping to raise new concerns about the outlook for Europe's biggest economy as well as the impact of the surging euro on the nation's exports.

Orders slumped 0.5 per cent, the Ministry of Economics and Technology said, led by a sharp fall in foreign orders.

Economists had forecast that factory orders, which are seen as a key if volatile economic indicator, would rise by 0.9 per cent in February.

However, while domestic orders were unchanged, foreign order books contracted by 1.1 per cent with the data compiled against the backdrop of the euro climbing to set a series of all-time highs.

Stockholm - Two women from a small village in northern Sweden were in talks with a Canadian firm about exploration rights for a potentially huge deposit of gold ore.

Harriet Svensson, 64, and her best friend Siv Wiik, 69, have settled for Hansa Resources and have signed a letter of intent. Pending the outcome of the talks they were due to receive 500,000 kronor (85,000 dollars) each in an initial signing bonus, Swedish media reported Friday.

The deal could be worth 21 million kronor including other bonuses and royalties to the two amateur prospectors as well as costs for exploiting the potential finds, financial daily Dagens Industri said.

Stockholm - The Easter holidays impacted the number of passengers flying with the SAS Group in March, the operator of the joint carrier Scandinavian Airlines reported Monday.

The SAS Group flew 2.6 million passengers in March, down 5.5 per cent compared to the corresponding business period 2007.

Scandinavian Airlines said that higher fuel prices also impacted first quarter earnings.

SAS chief executive Mats Jansson said in a statement that the group was considering a series of measures that would be "gradually" put in place.

Hong Kong  - Thailand on Monday guaranteed rice supplies to Hong Kong after a sharp rise in prices in the former British colony which triggered panic-buying, an official said.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Frederick Ma announced after a meeting with the Thai consul-general that there would be no quota system on rice exports from Thailand to Hong Kong.

Copenhagen - Danish food company Arla was Monday reported to again be struggling with a consumer boycott in the Middle East in the wake of anger against the re-publication of controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

Sales in the region have halved although the group still sells its products in most markets, sales director Finn Hansen told newspaper Jyllands-Posten, estimating the sales drop to be 1.3 billion kroner (274 million dollars).

Arla was also targeted in 2006 in the wake of the crisis triggered by the publication of 12 controversial caricatures of the prophet when religious and political leaders called for a boycott.

Berlin - The head of Germany's state-owned KfW development bank resigned Monday as a result of the financial market crisis that has severely dented performances at German banks.

Ingrid Matthaeus-Maier, 62, had resigned with immediate effect over the troubles at the IKB Deutsche Industriebank, in which the KfW holds 43 per cent, according to information received by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Singapore- Singapore and Chinese authorities have endorsed a draft masterplan for a joint eco-city project in the northern China port city of Tianjin, news reports said Wednesday.

The masterplan, developed by a team that includes Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority, will guide land use and development.

It reflects the shared vision for a city that is "environmentally friendly, socially harmonious and economically sustainable," The Straits Times said.

Budapest  - Unions representing transport workers in Hungary's capital city Budapest said Wednesday they would strike again on April 18 after talks aimed at resolving a dispute over service cuts failed.

Unions are concerned that plans to cut up to ten per cent of services in Budapest could lead to job losses.

Budapest Transport Company (BKV) is around 80 billion forints (489.4 million dollars) in debt and wants to slash services to save money.

Bucharest- A court has ruled that a three-week-old strike at Renault SA's Romanian plant is legal, bolstering worker demands for higher pay and benefits ahead of a rally planned for Thursday.

Renault is losing an estimated 10 million euros (16 million dollars) a day with the walkout at the plant in Pitesti, which makes Dacia brand budget-priced compact cars aimed mainly at Eastern European markets.

Union negotiators this week rejected an improved pay offer by Dacia management, saying it still fell short of their demands. The union also wants profit sharing for workers and discounts for unionized employees who buy Dacia cars.

New Delhi, Apr. 12 : ‘Focus product to a Focus Market’, should be the orientation of India’s trade policy, said Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, and added that Indian exporters should look for new markets, markets that hitherto have not been unexplored like those in East Europe and the CIS countries.

He was speaking in the session- “Interactive Session on Foreign Trade Policy and Procedures 2008-09” organized the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here today.

Amsterdam  - Profit for Dutch electronics manufacturer Philips was less than expected, with company results announced Monday for the first quarter of 2008 amounting to 265 million euros (418.59 million dollars).

Analysts had expected 305 million euros (481.77 million dollars). After taxes, company results were 219 million euros (345.92 million dollars).

Results for the company's Consumer Lifestyle division were most disappointing. Substantially lower sales of television sets, led to a company result of 77 million euros (121.62 million dollars). Analysts had hoped for 144 million euros (227.462 million dollars).

Turnover in the first quarter was not less than expected and amounted to 5.965 billion euros (9.422 billion dollars).

Vienna - Austria fibre-maker Lenzing on Monday said it made record profits in 2007, owing to an excellent business environment and strong growth.

Net profits were up 33.1 per cent to 117.6 million euros (185.9 million dollars), the company said in a press release, confirming preliminary numbers released last month.

Operating profits were up 50.6 per cent to 162.3 million euros, consolidated sales increased by 20.9 per cent to 1.6 billion euros. The company, which is listed at Vienna's stock market, is expected to pay a dividend of 14 euros per share.

London  - Tesco, Britain's largest supermarket chain, on Tuesday reported a rise in profits of 11.8 per cent to nearly 2.9 billion pounds (5.8 billion dollars) in 2007.

The retailer said sales rose to 51.8 billion pounds, an increase of 11 per cent over 2006. The increase comes at a time of rising inflationary pressures on food prices in Britain.

Tesco's international sales were up 25.3 per cent, as Tesco said it now made half of its group trading profit from its stores overseas.

The retailer, which offers competitive prices for upmarket products, has extended massively in Asia and Eastern Europe, and is also planning to set up branches in the US.

New Delhi  - India's second-largest software company, Infosys Technologies Ltd, announced Tuesday a net profit growth of 9.2 per cent in the quarter that ended March 31, its slowest rate in several years.

Appreciation of the Indian rupee against the dollar, rising wages and an economic slowdown in the United States, where a majority of India's outsourcing clients are located, were among the factors pulling down India's IT industry, analysts said.

Net income at Infosys rose to 12.5 billion rupees (313 million dollars) in the fourth quarter, up from 11.4 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier, it said.

Berlin- New passenger car registrations in Central and Eastern Europe raced ahead again in March, data released Tuesday showed, as strong consumer demand continued to boost auto sales across the region.

Despite rising oil prices and growing global economic uncertainty, car registrations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) rose by 3.5 per cent last month.

This brought the increase in the first quarter in the CEE region to 14.7 per cent, which was helped along by a 19.5-per-cent jump in Poland and a 23.6-per cent increase in Romania during the opening three months of the year.

Rania (Uttar Pradesh), Apr. 15 : A massive fire broke out in an edible oil refining factory in Rania in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur District on Tuesday.

The fire took hours to douse said Parshuram, a labourer.

Police said the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.

D. P. Shukla, Chief Fire Officer, Kanpur, said that bringing the fire under control was extremely difficult.

Earlier in the day, a plastic factory in Kanpur was completely gutted, resulting in huge loss of property. (ANI)

San Francisco  - Intel reported income and earnings in line with Wall Street expectations Tuesday, calming investor jitters about how the global slowdown would affect the world's biggest semiconductor maker.

The company reported first-quarter net income of 1.4 billion dollars, down 12 per cent from the year-ago quarter. Revenue was up 9 percent to 9.7 billion dollars.

Operating income, before the costs of restructuring and asset impairment charges, was 2.1 billion dollars, or 23 per cent above the same quarter last year.

In a statement, Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said that he was was upbeat about the company's prospects and the future prospects for the economy.

Tokyo  - Japan's JVC company has decided to pull out of the domestic market for flat-panel television production this summer and expects a net loss for fiscal year
2007, the Nikkei business daily reported Wednesday.

JVC plans, instead, to maintain its production and sales of liquid-crystal display televisions for the European and US markets, the business daily said.

As the first Japanese home electronics company to withdraw from the local market, JVC has suffered a fourth straight net loss due to stiff competition in the flat-panel business with rivals such as Sharp Corp with a 36-per-cent market share, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co with 20.3 per cent share, and Sony Corp with 12.9 per cent share.

Singapore  - Pacific Healthcare Holdings is expanding its presence in India via a joint venture that will invest 10 million Singapore dollars (7.2 million US dollars) in the healthcare sector over the next three years, executives said on Wednesday.

The Birla-Pacific MedSpa will be 50 per cent owned by India's Yash Birla's Group, 42.5 per cent held by Pacific Healthcare and 7.5 per cent by a dermatologist based in India.

The tie-up plans to set up four medical spa centres and a wellness resort. Two of the centres will be in Mumbai and open this year. The resort, featuring about 20 villas, will be in southern Goa.

The locations for two other centres have yet to be decided.

New York  - The US investment bank Merrill Lynch is expected to report a further 6 billion to 8 billion dollars in write-downs as a result of the international financial market crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition Wednesday.

This will mean the third quarterly loss in a row, the report said, citing a "person familiar with the matter," bringing its total since October to over 30 billion dollars.

Merrill Lynch is now planning a cost-cutting programme which includes job cuts of 10 to 15 per cent in some areas, according to the report.

Amsterdam  - The Dutch parliament and Social Affairs minister Piet Hein Donner (Christian Democrats) will be discussing a new law on Wednesday under which pregnant Dutch entrepreneurs will be entitled to receive 1,335 euros (2,109 dollars) per month.

The government stipend will be paid for a minimum of 16 weeks. The law is expected to go into effect as of July 1.

The money should compensate the women's loss of their habitual income to enable them to take maternity leave.

Under Dutch law, female employees are legally entitled to a minimum of 16 weeks of maternity leave. During this time they are paid 100 per cent of their regular income. Dutch law obligates pregnant employees to stop work 4 to 6 weeks before they are due to give birth.

Washington, Apr 16 : Relearning the ancient Aristotelian virtue could help bring business and society closer, say a pair of economists.

Businesses that excel in the services and products they offer their customers are usually the ones that succeed and post a healthy profit for their shareholders.

Vienna - In the course of a year, the abrasion of wedding rings amounts to the loss of more than 16.7 kilogrammes of gold, worth more than 260,000 euros (411,000 dollars) for married Austrians, a local researcher has found.

In a study released in the Gold Bulletin journal, Georg Steinhauser, a chemist from Vienna's Technical University, quantified the annual losses for the first time following a study in which he used his own gold wedding ring.

San Francisco - Profits at eBay, the largest online auctioneer, grew 22 per cent compared to a year ago, thanks to changes in auction fees and improved performance for the company's Paypal and Sype subsidiaries.

The Silicon Valley company said that it recorded net income of 459.7 million dollars, or 34 cents a share, as revenue rose 24 percent to 2.12 billion dollars.

"We are pleased with our first quarter results," Bob Swan, eBay's Chief Financial Officer, said in a statement. "We are seeing some positive early indicators based on our key initiatives, but there is still much work to be done."

Singapore  - Studies are underestimating the risks to businesses by climate change while emphasizing the opportunities, a consultancy report said Thursday.

"This focus on opportunity over risk is striking in the light of growing consensus on the significant macroeconomic costs of climate change," said KPMG after analyzing 50 previously published reports.

Regulatory risks were the most commonly mentioned, but few studies considered the reputational and litigation risks, said the KPMG findings published in The Business Times.

Risks by sector were "omnipresent and underestimated," the report said, noting that nearly all sectors were exposed to a high or medium level risk from climate change.

Seoul  - Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun Hee was indicted Thursday on charges of tax evasion and breach of trust, but a special prosecutor dropped bribery charges against him in an investigation of South Korea's largest conglomerate.

Lee, 66, used nearly 1,200 accounts under other people's names to carry out profitable stock transactions and avoid 113 billion won (114.3 million dollars) in taxes, lead prosecutor Cho Joon Woong charged.

Samsung had also been accused of regularly bribing public officials, but Cho said his team of investigators were unable to prove those accusations.

Basel, Switzerland  - Swiss-based international seed and pesticide firm Syngenta said Thursday it plans to open a multimillion-dollar research and technology centre for the development of genetically modified (GM) crops in Beijing.

The company said it would invest around 65 million dollars in the first five years of the project.

The new facility would complement its US centres, it said.

It would concentrate on early-stage evaluation of GM for key crops such as corn and soy to improve yield, drought resistance, disease control and biomass conversion for biofuels, the company said in a statement.

Taipei  - A Taiwan research institute Thursday raised the island's 2008 economic growth forecast to 4.67 per cent, spurred by president-elect Ma Ying-jeou's promise to open trade with China,

The private Chunghua Institute for Economic Research raised the annual economic growth from the 4.17 per cent target it set three months ago, but still down from 2007's 5.7 per cent growth.

Analyst Wang Li-jung said the institute raised the annual economic growth target because president-elect Ma has promised to fully open trade with China after he is sworn in on May 20.

"Considering the arrival of mainland tourists and the pouring in of foreign investment, we made the adjustment," she said.

Beijing  - Business groups are criticizing China for limiting the visas it issues to foreigners in Hong Kong, saying the new rules were severely affecting business people.

Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, on Thursday called the restrictions enacted ahead of August's Olympic Games "truly annoying" and charged that the new visa rules were unclear and have never been published.

"Once again, there is no transparency," he said.

The European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong warned of negative repercussions for business and on a wider scale.

New York  - Google Inc reported a 30-per-cent jump in first- quarter earnings Thursday to 1.31 billion dollars, allaying fears that the internet search engine leader was struggling with the effects of a US economic slowdown.

Revenue also climbed 42 per cent to 5.19 billion dollars, with more than half its sales coming from outside the United States, the company said after market close.

Google's shares shot up more than 11 per cent in after-hours trading as the earnings report beat analysts' estimates.

Hanover, Germany  - When the Hanover Fair, the world's principal exhibition for industrial machinery, opens next week, one of the principal talking points will be ways to save scarce energy.

Machinery that thumps metal, extrudes plastic or pumps air through pipes consumes vast amounts of electricity, and engineers are looking for ways to both cut factory power bills and help fight global warming.

Sepp Heckmann, chief executive of the April 21-25 fair, says the three big trends in the sector are miniaturization, the greater use of intelligent devices and a focus on energy efficiency, not just to save power but also to raise productivity.

Hanover, Germany  - Innovations from Japan including robots and a virtual power station are to have pride of place at the Hanover Fair in Germany next week alongside sumo wrestlers and traditional taiko drummers.

The April 21-25 fair has appointed high-tech Japan this year as partner nation. The annual fair, with 5,100 companies from 62 nations exhibiting, is a major venue for showing heavy industrial equipment.

Partner-nation status means Japan, the second-biggest industrialized economy in the world in GDP terms, can show off its latest robots, industrial automation solutions, environmental technology, nanotechnology and energy research.

Within the European Union, Germany is Japan's principal trade partner.

Dublin- Irish airline Aer Lingus said Friday it would offer economy class seats to all customers who booked flights sold at an incorrect price, national broadcaster RTE reported.

Consumers were furious Thursday after the airline retracted business-class tickets to the United States advertised online at 5 euros (8 dollars).

Up to 300 customers booked the tickets, which normally retail for over 1,700 euros, on Wednesday morning, but later received an e-mail from Aer Lingus cancelling the flights.

Taipei  - Taiwan and China will resume joint exploration for oil in the Taiwan Strait as Taiwanese president-elect Ma Ying-jeou hopes to fully open trade with China, the Liberty Times reported Sunday.

The Tai Chao Project - which began in August 2005 but has been halted for several years due to soured ties - will be restarted in May, the newspaper said. Ma takes office the same month.

The project between Taiwan's state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) is to drill for oil along the middle line in the Taiwan Strait.

Singapore  - Dissatisfied customers in Singapore prefer to whine and gripe rather than lodge formal complaints to seek redress, a published survey said Monday.

In the first wide-ranging survey of customer satisfaction, only 6 per cent of the 12,000 people polled said that they opt for action.

The "talk only, no action" preference contrasts with consumers elsewhere, The Straits Times said, citing a similar poll in the United States that found 14 per cent of Americans would file a complaint about poor treatment.

The Customer Satisfaction Index noted that 17 per cent of those queried in the city-state were tourists.

Munich - Europe's biggest insurer Allianz SE said Monday it had paid 373.2 million euros (592.6 million dollars) for majority stakes in two Turkish insurance companies as part of moves to boost its presence in Turkey's fast-paced economy.

Munich-based-Allianz said it had hiked its stake in non-life insurer Koc Allianz Sigorta AS to 84.2 per cent, up from 37.1 per cent, for a total cost of 248 million euros.

In addition, Allianz said it had paid 125.2 million euros to boost its holding in life insurance and pension group Koc Allianz Hayat ve Emeklilik AS from 38 per cent to 87 per cent.

Hanover, Germany  - German engineering companies lost 7 billion euros (11 billion dollars) in intellectual property theft last year, with China the chief culprit, the VDMA engineering association said on the first day of the Hanover Fair Monday.

VDMA President Manfred Wittenstein said the product piracy losses were up from 5 billion euros in 2006.

"Once again, China is the lead country producing illicit copies," Wittenstein said, as the 60th Hanover Fair, the world's main showcase for machine tools and industrial automation, got underway.

While 46 per cent of the copies were sold in China itself, some 17 per cent were reaching Germany, he said, citing a survey of 241 VDMA members.

New Delhi  - World's largest truck manufacturer Daimler AG and India's Hero Group will invest 44 billion rupees (1.1 billion dollars) over five years in a joint venture to make commercial vehicles, the companies announced Monday.

The two companies signed an agreement in New Delhi to form a company called the Daimler Hero Motor Corporation Ltd., in which the Germany-based auto-major would have a 60 per cent stake and the remaining with Hero.

The company will begin making light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles for the local market from 2010 under a new brand name. The production of commercial vehicles for export to other fast-growing markets will be launched thereafter.

London  - The Bank of England said Monday that it would inject 50 billion pounds (100 billion dollars) into the banking sector to ease the mortgage squeeze in the wake of the global credit crunch.

The package, under which banks will be able to swap their riskier mortgage-backed assets for government bonds to shore up their finances, is seen as the most ambitious so far in the global banking sector.

The announcement followed reports that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to seek some 10 billion pounds in a new rights issue to shareholders this week.

The bank, Britain's second-largest, is also expected to reveal further write-downs, probably in the region of 5 billion pounds.

London, April 21 : It seems that home tailoring has started to overshadow disposable high street fashions, with a rise in the sales of sewing machines supporting this view.

A report suggests that the number of Singer and Brother models sold by Argos catalogue shops rose by 50 per cent in 2006-07.

The report also says that sales of Argos's cheapest model, costing 69.99 pounds, have risen by about 500 per cent.

At Woolworth's, sewing machine sales were found to be up by 258 per cent over the same period.

Karachi  - Pakistan's energy crisis is set to worsen as its largest private power company, HUBCO, faces defaults of billions of rupees amid rising oil prices and a financial crunch.

The Hub Power Company or Hubco is facing a default of between 3.5 and 3.8 billion rupees (55 to 57 million dollars) to state-owned Pakistan State Oil (PSO), the country's largest private oil firm, sources on Karachi Stock Exchange said.

"We are working with the government of Pakistan to help resolve this situation," a spokeswoman for Hubco, Lesley Ann Middlecoat, told Deutsche Press-Agentur dpa on Monday.

Taipei - Intel plans to spend at least 500 million US dollars over the next five years on procuring and promoting a wireless communication system, a company official said in Taiwan Monday.

Intel vice president Sean Maloney made the announcement while signing a cooperation agreement with Taiwan's Economics Ministry.

Under the agreement, Intel would spend at least 500 million US dollars between 2008 and 2013 on the procurement of and investment in the Worldwide Interoperatbility for Microwave Access (WiMAX) system in Taiwan.

Hong Kong  - A high-profile Hong Kong millionaire businessman has stepped down as chief executive of his family company after being found guilty of groping two male taxi drivers, a news report said Tuesday.

Stephen Gan Fock-wai, known as the "Prince of White Flower Oil" because of his company's health products, was found guilty Friday of indecently assaulting the taxi drivers by fondling their thighs and private parts as they drove him home.

He is to be sentenced on May 2 and could face jail.

Singapore  - Business leaders were urged on Tuesday to speed up practical and creative solutions to greener corporate practices that make sense environmentally and are a source of competitive advantage.

"Ways and means need to be found to mobilize and focus the trillions of dollars in the world's financial and capital markets on the greening of the global economy," said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Taipei  - AU Optronics, the world's largest maker of large-sized thin film transistor liquid crystal display panels reported a better-than-expected performance in the first quarter on Tuesday.

In the first quarter, AUO's revenues totaled 136.63 billion Taiwan dollars (4.5 billion US dollars), down 12 per cent from previous quarter.

The company's net income after tax was 26.99 billion Taiwan dollars (889 million US dollars), and basic earnings per share of 3.41 Taiwan dollars (1.12 US dollars).

AUO shipped large-sized panel of 22 million units, down 5 per cent from previous quarter but up 38 per cent year-on-year.

New York - Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa buy into the US carrier JetBlue helped the discount passenger airline to minimize first quarter losses despite the soaring price of fuel, the company's figures showed Tuesday.

Lufthansa AG bought about 19 per cent of JetBlue shares for 300 million dollars last year.

First quarter losses were 8 million dollars, compared to the 22- million-dollar deficit in the same period last year.

Sales rose 34 per cent to 816 million dollars, which also helped reduce the impact of record jet fuel prices.

New York - McDonald's Corp said Tuesday that while US sales were in a slump, Europeans more than helped the world's largest restaurant chain to beat out analysts' profit expectations with a 24- per-cent jump in earnings.

Earnings rose to 946 million dollars for the first quarter, compared to 762 million dollars in the same period last year.

US sales at stores open at least 13 months fell 0.8 per cent, its second decline since March 2003.

But same-store sales at European restaurants rose 11 per cent, as the appetite grew for breakfast foods in Britain, small chicken sandwiches in France and cheeseburgers in Germany.

Europe in fact generated 42 per cent of McDonald's first quarter sales and 39 per cent of operating profit.

Taipei  - Taiwan's China Airlines (CAL), eyeing the huge China market, on Wednesday signed a contract to invest in an aircraft maintenance company in China.

The maintenance company, Taikoo Spirit AeroSystems Composite Co, will be based in Jinjiang in China's Fujian Province. It is scheduled to begin operations in early 2009, with a registered capitalization value of 8.48 million US dollars.

Partners in the join-venture company are CAL, Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company (HAECO), Taikoo Xiamen Aircraft Engineering Company (TAECO), First Wave and Spirit AeroSystems.

CAL and Cathay Pacific will each own 7.5 per cent of the new company's capitalized holdings.

Rating agency, Crisil Ltd has lowered its estimation for India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the current fiscal to 8.1 percent from 8.5 percent.

Crisil attributed increasing inflation and interest rates, together with a declining global growth viewpoint for the downward revision of GDP.

In a declaration, the agency said that it anticipates overall growth to remain strong regardless of the moderation, which is driven by investment.

As the existing inflationary prospects are way beyond the RBI’s comfort zone of 4-5-5%, a cut in key interest rates has been rejected, the report said.

New York  - US airplane giant Boeing Co. reported Wednesday that its net income in the first quarter reache 1.21 billion dollars, up 38 per cent on the previous year period, thanks to strong growth in commercial planes sales.

The company said the earnings came on revenues of almost 16 billion dollars, up 4.1 per cent. The net income figure surpassed analysts' projections.

"We're off to a good start in what we expect to be another strong year of financial performance for Boeing," commented company chairman, president and CEO Jim McNerney. (dpa)

San Francisco  - Apple on Wednesday reported record quarterly earnings and revenue on stronger sales of Macintosh computers.

Profits exceeded analysts' expectations, rising 36 per cent in the quarter ending in March to 1.05 billion dollars. Sales rose 43 per cent from the year-earlier period to 7.51 billion dollars, the Cupertino, California-based firm said.

Sales of Macintosh computers rose 50 per cent over the previous year to 2.3 million, while the firm sold 10.6 million iPod music players, up 1 per cent year-over-year. It also sold 1.7 million iPhone mobile phones.

The firm's predictions for third quarter were lower than analysts had expected, sending down Apple shares in after-hours trading.

New York - The world's largest online retailer Amazon. com said Wednesday its earnings increased 30 per cent to 143 million dollars in the first quarter of the year on strong international sales boosted by the weak dollar.

Revenues rose 37 per cent to 4.13 billion dollars, the Seattle- based company said after markets closed.

About half of its sales came from outside the US market, with international sales rising 44 per cent.

Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos attributed the demand to lower prices. (dpa)

London, Apr 24 : Music company Sony BMG has signed up a trio of singing Catholic priests for a whopping 1 million pounds.

Fathers Eugene O’Hagen, Martin O’Hagen and David Delargy sealed the deal by the steps of Westminster Cathedral in London on April 23.

Known as ‘The Priests’, the trio said that they will be giving the money they have received to charity. However, they haven’t yet decided which particular charities will benefit from their singing.

Hong Kong  - Wealthy Chinese visitors are leading a shopping stampede in Hong Kong, which has seen the average spending of tourists jump to 657 US dollars, the Hong Kong Tourism Board said Thursday.

The average per-capita spending last year of overnight visitors surpassed 5,000 Hong Kong dollars (640 US dollars) for the first time, rising 16.4 per cent over 2006 to 657 US dollars.

Americans spend the most at an average of 737 US dollars each, followed by Europeans (723 US dollars), Australians (717 US dollars) and mainland Chinese (666 US dollars).

Vienna  - Austrian Airlines (AUA) said Thursday that it had a net loss of 60.4 million euros (95.7 million dollars) in the first quqrter of 2008 amid strong competition and high kerosene prices.

Austria's flag carrier had seen net losses of 16.3 million euros in the first quarter last year.

Operating profits were equally affected by the competitive environment, AUA said, reporting a negative EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) of 50.1 million euros, or four times the 12.5 million euros red ink in the previous-year period.

New Delhi, Apr. 24 : India has been elected Vice-President of WAIPA, the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies.

WAIPA was established in 1995 and is registered as a non-government organisation (NGO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The Association currently has 220 member agencies from 154 countries. WAIPA acts as a forum for investment promotion agencies (IPAs) to provide networking opportunities and facilitate the exchange of best practices in investment promotion. Membership is open to all agencies whose prime function is to promote any country or territory for investment.

Tokyo  - Nintendo Co reported record earnings for fiscal 2007 that ended in March, thanks to the strong popularity of game consoles, the company said Thursday.

The Japanese game creator saw its profit surge 47.7 per cent to a record 257.34 billion yen (2.5 billion dollars) in the year through March, compared to a year before.

Sales jumped 73 per cent to a record 1.67 trillion yen, and operating profit more than doubled to 487.22 billion yen, also marking a record high.

The positive earnings results were attributed to strong demands of popular Wii console and handheld DS consoles, the company said.

London, April 24 : A new survey has revealed that mobile phone customers in the UK consider the services provided by Vodafone and Orange to be least “satisfactory”.

The two companies scored the poorest in respect of both pay-as-you-go deals and pay-monthly options.

T-Mobile was another company whose pay-as-you-go service failed to impress cell phone users, revealed the survey.

Tesco emerged as the most satisfactory provider of the pay-as-you-go service, with a 70 per cent satisfaction rate.

Sixty-seven per cent of the people surveyed said that they were happy with Virgin’s pay-monthly contracts.

New York  - American Express Co, the country's largest credit card company, reported Thursday an 11 per cent decline in first quarter profits amidst one of the worst financial crises in the US in decades.

Profits were 974 million dollars.

But the company's shares climbed more than 4 per cent in extended New York trading, as the decline was not as large as had been expected by analysts.

While other financial service companies have also suffered, American Express was buoyed by a 30 per cent rise in overseas profit to 133 million dollars as customers spent and borrowed more, Bloomberg financial news service reported.

New York  - Amgen Inic, the world's largest biotechnology company, Thursday reported a 2 per cent increase in first quarter profits compared to the same period last year, helped by the arthritis treatment Enbrel.

Net income was 1.14 billion dollars, compared to 1.11 billion dollars a year earlier, the Thousand Oaks, California-based company said in a statement.

Amgen's troubles with its anemia drugs, Aranesp and Epogen, pulled down its performance. The drugs were linked to risk of heart attack, stroke and death at high doses, Bloomberg financial news service reported.

The products boost oxygen-carrying red blood cells to fight weakness and fatigue.

Stockholm - Swedish telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson on Friday posted a 46-per-cent drop in pre-tax income for first quarter 2008, but performed better than analysts had estimated.

Pre-tax income was 4.5 billion kronor (756 million dollars), down from 8.3 billion kronor in the corresponding business period 2007.

The group reported 44.2 billion kronor in sales for the quarter, up 5 per cent on the corresponding business quarter 2007.

"Our business developed well in the quarter, considering the present market environment and the declining US dollar," Chief Executive Carl-Henric Svanberg said in a statement.

Tokyo  - Japan's Sony Corp and South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co said Friday that they would produce a new line of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) as part of their joint venture, S-LCD Corp.

The electronics companies agreed to invest 200 billion yen (1.93 billion dollars) in the new line to meet rising global demand for LCD televisions.

The new line would start operating in Tangjeong, South Korea, in the second quarter of 2009 with a monthly production capacity of 60,000 units.

The line would produce glass substrate measuring 2.5 metres by 2.2 metres and was projected to turn out 1.08 million 32-inch (81.3-centimetre) panels per month. (dpa)

London - Britain's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said Friday it would investigate allegations that leading tobacco firms and supermarkets were engaged in price fixing.

The competition watchdog named 11 retailing chains, including supermarket giants Asda, Sainsbury and Tesco, and tobacco firms Imperial Tobacco and Gallaher.

It alleges that deals between cigarette companies and retailers limited the retailers' ability "to determine its selling price independently."

Arrangements between manufacturers and retailers linked the retail price of one brand to that of a competing brand, the OFT alleges.

The alleged infringements took place between 2001 and 2003.

Vienna  - Uniqa Group, Austria's largest insurance company, said Friday it increased net profits by 53.7 per cent to 269 million euros (420 million dollars) in 2007, boosted by strong growth in its Central and Eastern European (CEE) business.

The good performance was based on a 43.3-per-cent increase in operating profits to 378 million euros, the insurance group said. Results after minorities were up 62.7 per cent to 247 million euros.

Uniqa said it would suggest increasing dividends by 43 per cent to 50 cent per share and start a buy-back programme for almost 12 million shares.

Stockholm  - Nordic telecommunications group Telia Sonera on Friday reported increased pre-tax income on higher sales for first quarter 2008, benefiting from its markets in Eurasia.

The group said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was 7.75 billion kronor (1.3 billion dollars), compared to 7.58 billion kronor in the corresponding business period 2007.

Sales in the quarter increased 7.4 per cent to 24.39 billion kronor.

Chief executive Lars Nyberg said the group reported "a satisfactory set of numbers," noting that "the growth engine of the group, Eurasia, continued its strong development."

London, Apr 25 : A UK bar has come under fire for offering eight hours of free vodka to all its women customers.

The stint at Minnesota Jax in Eastbourne, East Sussex is set to run from 6pm to 2am in June.

“I can get as much free vodka as I want. It’s amazing,” The Sun quoted Amy Henderson, 19, as saying.

However, the move has already been slammed by MPs and health professionals, over binge drinking fears.

“If this isn’t against the law, it should be,” said MP Nigel Waterson.

“This is of extreme concern to us,” added Local public safety boss Jean Irving.

However, bar owner Darren Bush insists, “My staff make sure people don’t get drunk.” (ANI)

Madrid - The Spanish government Friday said it expected the economy to grow 2.3 per cent this year, down from a previous forecast of 3.1 per cent.

The growth was expected to remain on the same level in 2009.

The Bank of Spain had earlier predicted a growth of 2.4 per cent for this year and 2.1 per cent for 2009.

The international economy and a crisis in the formerly overheated construction sector have led to an economic slowdown after more than a decade of rapid growth.

Frankfurt  - German airline Lufthansa AG said Friday it had decided to take out a majority stake in British carrier BMI.

Lufthansa finance director Stephan Gemkow told reporters that the carrier was "determined" to exercise its options to acquire the majority stake in the British airline, which operates between Europe and the US.

Lufthansa currently holds 30 per cent minus one share of BMI and has the possibility of acquiring the 50 per cent plus one share stake held by BMI chief Michael Bishop.

San Francisco - Yahoo maintained a defiant silence Friday on Microsoft's 40-billion-dollar takeover bid, as Saturday's deadline to wrap up the deal came down to the wire.

Instead of publicly responding to the software giant's ultimatum, Yahoo ignored the issue entirely and instead unveiled plans to rewire its Internet services to make them more flexible for users and more compatible with other websites.

Stockholm - Weak sales in North America and Western Europe impacted first-quarter profits 2008, Swedish home appliance maker Electrolux said Monday.

The group posted a pre-tax loss of 149 million kronor (25 million dollars), compared to a pre-tax profit of 670 million kronor for the corresponding business period 2007.

Net sales dropped 3 per cent to 24.19 billion kronor. The group said unfavourable exchange rates were a factor.

"The result was decreased by a number of significant non-recurring costs, the purpose of which is to strengthen our long-term operations," Chief Executive Hans Straberg said in a statement.

Tokyo  - Japanese home electronics company Panasonic reported a record net profit for the year that ended in March, the company announced Monday.

Panasonic, formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, saw its net profit rise 30 per cent to 281.88 billion yen (2.7 billion dollars) compared to a year before, thanks to a reduced tax payment.

Despite rising oil prices and other raw materials costs, Panasonic's operating profit jumped 13 per cent to 519.5 billion yen for fiscal 2007.

Sales remained almost unchanged at 9.1 trillion yen, down 0.4 per cent, mainly due to increasing competition in digital products.

Berlin  - German mobile phone operator Freenet has agreed to take over rival Debitel to create the third-largest company in the sector in Germany, in a deal worth 1.6 billion euros (2.5 billion million dollars).

Freenet's board approved the planned takeover, which needs regulatory approval, late Sunday.

Debitel's owner, investment company Permira, is to receive a 25- per-cent stake, becoming the largest shareholder in the new company, which will have 19 million clients.

Major Freenet shareholders United Internet and Drillisch oppose the takeover and are planning a counter-offer. (dpa)

Stockholm  - Strong demand from Russia, members of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Middle East helped boost first-quarter pre-tax profits, Swedish heavy-vehicle and bus maker Scania said Monday.

Pre-tax profit for the quarter grew 17 per cent to 3.51 billion kronor (587 million dollars), compared to 2.99 billion kronor for the corresponding business period 2007.

First-quarter sales were up 15 per cent to 21.99 billion kronor.

Scania noted a drop in order bookings in Western Europe as well as Central and Eastern Europe over a general downturn and weaker demand while "demand remains strong" in Russia and other CIS members.

Vienna  - European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet indicated Monday that the ECB was in no rush to cut rates and that fighting inflation remained its top priority.

Speaking at a conference in Vienna hosted by Austria's central bank, Trichet said safeguarding price stability is and remained a necessary condition for economic growth, job creation and social cohesion.

He said the ECB's governing council believed that "the current monetary policy stance will contribute to achieving our objective of price stability in the medium term and of firm anchoring of medium to long term inflation expectations."

Melbourne, April 28 : The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has successfully urged Miami-based Perry Ellis International to boycott wool from Australian mulesed sheep.

The global fashion giant, which boasts Australian professional golfer Aaron Baddeley as the face of one of its clothing lines, said that it would direct vendors not to purchase wool from suppliers using mulesing, a technique used largely by Australian farmers where skin is removed from a sheep's rear end to protect it from fly strike

London,
April 28 : Asda’s tiny bikini that costs just 3 pounds has become the
latest rage among fashionistas - with the selling rate of ten per
minute.

More than 100,000 pieces of the sexy swimwear have been sold since its launch last Monday.

And
bosses at Asda, which recently axed WAG Coleen McLoughlin as the face
of its George fashion range, say that stores are selling them at the
rate of ten a minute.

“The George bikinis are flying off the
shelves and it’s no surprise — what else can you buy for £3 these
days?” The Sun quoted an Asda source, as saying.

Kullu, April 28 : Apple growers in the Himachal’s Kullu valley are a worried lot due to the increased acreage of pine forests in the region that has led to rise in temperature and ultimately affected the apple cultivation.

While pine vegetation is commercially important, as it is valued for timber and wood pulp across the world, it also has its demerits that affect horticultural activity in the valley.

Apple cultivation is a major business in Himachal’s Kullu valley and is done on both sides of the River Beas in Himalayas.

Pines were introduced in Kullu valley in the seventies.

Apple growers, however, blame the forest department for the increased pine tree acreage in the Kullu valley.

New York - US confectionery manufacturer Mars announced Monday that it bought famed chewing gum firm Wrigley for 23 billion dollars.

Billionaire US investor Warren Buffet was said to also have been a part of the takeover, in which Wrigley shareholders received 80 dollars per share, a premium of 28 per cent on Friday's market price.

The combined concern is estimated to have revenues of 27 billion dollars for the year, with Wrigley alone worth 17 billion dollars as of most recent market activity.

The family-controlled Mars firm is known best for its Mars and Snickers bars.

Dubai - The Middle East tourism industry will require at least 1.5 million workers by the year 2020, the organizers of a Dubai-hosted hotel investment conference said Tuesday.

Jonathan Worsley, co-organizer of Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) said in a statement that "staffing levels are one the biggest challenges facing the global industry."

InterContinental Hotels' Tom Mayer said that with the massive growth in the hotel industry in Dubai it has been hard to recruit talented local employees.

London - British Airways (BA) Tuesday announced an increase of the fuel surcharge on tickets to reflect "continuing high oil prices."

The changes will come into effect on Friday.

The surcharge for short-haul flights is to increase by 6 pounds (12 dollars) to 26 pounds per return flight.

For long-haul flights of less than nine hours, the surcharge for a return flight will rise from 106 pounds to 126 pounds.

The highest increase of 30 pounds applies to long-haul flights of more than nine hours which will go up from 128 pounds for a return trip to 158 pounds. (dpa)

Taipei  - Taiwan's ChiMei Optoelectronics (CMO) plans to raise the output of its flat panel screens by 40 per cent to meet growing demand in 2008, a newspaper said on Wednesday.

The Economic Daily News quoted CMO President Ho Chao-yang as saying the second-quarter shipment of CMO's displays larger than 10 inches would increase 15 per cent and the shipment would increase by 40 per cent for the year.

The revised annual target includes raising the output of notebook computer display panels from 13.5 million to 15 million pieces, up 50 per cent from 2007, and raising TV monitor panels from 18 million to 20 million pieces, up 34 per cent from 2007.

Singapore  - Suppliers of goods and services billing the government of Singapore will need to submit their invoices electronically starting May 1 as part of a plan seeking to extend the reach and quality of e-services, the Ministry of Finance said.

The system enabling suppliers to submit their invoices to ministries and statutory boards via a common online portal will "enhance the efficiency" of transactions, a ministry statement said on Wednesday.

Citing the benefits, the ministry said, "Suppliers can expect prompt payment in accordance with agreed? terms."

"E-Invoicing eliminates the risk of misplacement of hardcopy invoices," it noted.

Washington, Apr 30: As the market stock market soars, investors get carried away with excitement and wishful ‘phantasies’, suppressing negative emotions which would otherwise warn them of the high risk of what they are doing, says a new study.

According to the study by University College London Economic, models fail to factor in the emotions and unconscious mental life that drive human behaviour in conditions where the future is uncertain says the study, which argues that banks and financial institutions should be as wary of ‘emotional inflation’ as they are fiscal inflation.

London, April 30 (ANI): Electric nail files have been deemed the ‘Most Pointless Gadget of All Time’ in a new survey.

The files, which can be purchased for as much as 205 pounds, are supposed to give to give a perfect shape and smooth finish, reports the Sun.

The survey, however, found that women are just as happy with a manual nail file costing just 2 pounds.

Laser guided scissors, which are supposed to help cut a perfect straight line, are the second most useless item listed in the top 20.

In the poll for review website reevoo. com, electric candles came third while sodastream stood fourth.

Rounding off the top five was foot spa.

Top 20 Most Pointless Gadget of All Time are:

New York  - Microsoft's board held a protracted meeting Wednesday but failed to decide whether to sweeten its unsolicited bid for Yahoo, walk away from the deal or pursue a hostile takeover deal, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Microsoft had given the web portal until Saturday to accept its 41.9-billion-dollar offer but the deadline passed with no further comment from Yahoo, which had originally dismissed the bid as undervaluing the company.

New Delhi  - India's Essar Steel has reached an agreement to acquire US steelmaker and distributor Esmark Inc for an enterprise value of 1.1 billion dollars, news reports said Thursday.

Essar Steel holdings has agreed to "the material terms of the proposed merger" with Esmark for a cash purchase price of 17 dollars per share, a premium over the stock's ruling market price of 16.79 dollars a share, the Economic Times daily reported quoting Essar officials.

Essar's offer, unanimously accepted by Esmark's board of directors, is now subject to approvals including that of the US government and United Steel workers.

Oslo  - Norwegian whalers have caught five minke off north- western Norway since the whaling season officially opened April 1, reports said Friday.

The online edition of the newspaper Fiskeribladet Fiskaren which reports on fishing and related matters reported that three minke whales were caught in Vestfjorden off the Lofoten Islands, off north- western Norway.

One was caught Thursday, two others earlier this week, the report said.

Two other whales were caught off Andenes on a nearby group of islands, the newspaper said.

New York - Strong sales of the video game Rockband and robust ad sales on MTV and Nickelodeon spurred media conglomerate Viacom to a 33 per cent surge in first-quarter profit Friday.

The company reported net income of 270 million dollars, or 42 cents per share, compared with 203 million dollars, or 29 cents a share, in the year-ago first quarter. Revenue rose 15 per cent to 3.12 billion dollars, led by the Media Networks segment, up 16 per cent, and Filmed Entertainment, up 12 per cent.

Nicosia, May 3 : John Ging, Head of the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, has said that the desperate economic situation prevailing in the Gaza Strip is about to reach a point of explosion.

Ging described the humanitarian conditions in Gaza as “shameful” and “shocking” and added that the Israeli imposed closures were having “a devastating effect” on the civilian population.

Since last Summer when Hamas violently took control of Gaza, Israel allowed only minimal amounts of humanitarian aid, minimal amounts of food, medicine and fuel to pass the crossing points.

New York  - Software giant Microsoft on Saturday said it had pulled its bid for Yahoo after its higher offer failed to move the internet company.

Microsoft had hoped to join with Yahoo in a bid to beat out dominant web giant Google. (dpa)

Washington, May 4: Microsoft Corp. has withdrawn its 42.3 billion dollar bid to buy Yahoo Inc.

The decision to walk away was taken late on Saturday after negotiations between the two on a mutually acceptable sale price collapsed.

Microsoft said that it was willing to pay 47.5 billion dollars, or 33 dollars per share, but Yahoo demanded at least 53 billion dollars, or 37 dollars per share.

Washington, May 4 : In order to survive in the global economy, corporate collaboration is becoming a necessity, thereby making trust critical to the success of joint business ventures.

A University of Missouri study examined the effects of trust at three distinct organizational levels and found that business executives should strive to build and maintain trust to improve performance.

Building that trust may include consideration of staffing, special compensation and adjusted management processes.

Vienna  - Austria's flag carrier Austrian Airlines(AUA) said Monday that a key Saudi investor was set to pull out of a 150-million-euro (232-million-dollar) deal designed to shore up the ailing airline.

Austrian Airlines confirmed receiving a letter from lawyers representing Mohamed bin Issa al-Jaber, informing them of the investor's intention to scuttle the deal.

The company however rejected having left al-Jaber in the dark about its 60.4-million-euro net losses for the first quarter of 2008. The investor claimed he had received misleading information on the airline's financial situation when negotiating his investment in March.

Coimbatore, May 5 : Indian Go Kart drivers drew cheers from the home crowd as they won the Asia Challenge crown in Coimbatore on Sunday.

In the second leg of Asia Karting Challenge 2008, over 100 Karting drivers from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and India took part.

Karters went through their paces, overcoming difficult conditions and sweltering heat at the Kari Memorial Sports Track.

Race was conducted in five categories for seniors and juniors, where specially Akhil Khushlani and Parath Ghorpade stole the show.

Dongguan, China - The lone security guard could only stand aside helplessly, cowering as an angry crowd of 400 people surged forward, smashing the steel barricades outside the factory in southern China and forcing their way inside.

Some yelling, some crying tears of frustration, they fanned out across the deserted concrete complex, aiming kicks at their boss's abandoned car. Then they ran through the workshops, offices and dormitories, seeking retribution.

Thirty minutes later, their fury spent, they drifted back out across the trampled barricades, leaving for the last time the place where many of them had spent years of their working lives, carrying the only thing they could plunder: armfuls of shoes.

Singapore  - Slower growth in the number of passengers carried by Asia-Pacific airlines was anticipated in a survey conducted by the International Air Transport Association and released Tuesday, indicating US woes might be spreading.

The slower growth is a particular concern "since this is a region where travel demand is expected to continue to grow, even in the face of a US recession," the association said.

The quarterly survey of airline executives in March evaluated their business sentiment as oil and fuel prices reached record highs and as growth in the industry in the Asia-Pacific fell to 4.3 per cent in March from the same month a year earlier, down from the 6.9-per-cent growth recorded at the same point in 2007.

Herzogenaurach, Germany - German sporting goods manufacturer adidas on Tuesday reported a big jump in profits for the first quarter of 2008, driven by double-digit growth in sales.

Net income attributable to shareholders increased 32 per cent from the same period a year ago to 169 million euros (260 million dollars), the company said in a statement.

Operating profit for the group rose 23 per cent to 282 million euros compared to 229 million euros in the first three months of 2007, adidas said.

"We are off to a fast start to 2008," said adidas chairman and chief executive officer Herbert Hainer. "Group profitability has improved substantially."

Vienna  - Austrian brickmaker Wienerberger on Tuesday reported a net profit drop by 9 per cent to 30.2 million euros (46.7 million dollars) for the first quarter of 2008 but said but said strong business in eastern Europe was driving growth.

Operating profits were up by 9 per cent to 42.6 million euros compared with the same period last year, the world's largest brickmaker said. Earnings before interest, taxes, amortization and depreciation (EBITDA) increased by 10 per cent to 92.3 million euros.

Group revenues increased by 13 per cent to 574 million euros.

Singapore  - Singapore Airlines (SIA) will increase its fuel surcharge for tickets effective May 12 as a result of the sustained increase in jet fuel prices in recent months, the carrier said on Wednesday.

The new levels apply to SIA and subsidiary SilkAir flights. The prices go up by 5 US dollars to 35 US dollars for flights between Singapore and Association of South-East Asian countries, and up by 20 US dollars to 150 US dollars for flights between the city-state and gateways in the United States and Canada.

A 15-US-dollar increase to 95 US dollars applies to all other flights.

New Delhi, May 8 : Eyeing the potential for superbikes in the market, Italian-based Ducati Motor, the world's leading producer of racing motorcycles announced its entery into the Indian market with its premium range vehicles.

The company aims to be the market leader in the high-end bike segment that is to be priced between rupees 15 lakh and rupees 50 lakh.

Ducati's venture is in partnership with Precision Motor India Private Limited (PMIPL). Both firms will develop a detailed launch strategy for the Indian market in few months.

As per the agreement, PMIPL will be the exclusive importer of Ducati motorcycles in India.

Washington, May 11 : When companies are facing closure, their productivity rises, says a leading economist.

When management is busy dealing with matters other than daily operations, employees shoulder a greater responsibility for their work - and efficiency is enhanced.

According to business economist Magnus Hansson at Orebro University in Sweden, this shows that it is possible to boost productivity considerably without investing.

This is also an argument for longer phase-out periods, which would benefit both the employees and the company.

Tokyo  - Fujitsu Ltd saw its operating profit jump 12.6 per cent in fiscal 2007, which ended in March, to 204.99 billion yen (1.99 billion dollars) on strong sales, the company said Monday.

But net profit plunged 53 per cent for the year to 48.11 billion yen on a range of one-off factors such as evaluation loss on inventories.

Sales rose 4.5 per cent to 5.33 trillion yen, especially in the computerized system integration services, personal computers and cellphones.

For the current year through March 2009, Fujitsu expected its operating profit to grow 7.3 per cent to 220 billion yen on sales of 5.35 trillion yen, up 0.4 per cent.

Net profit was to more than double in the year to 100 billion yen, the company said. (dpa)

London, May 12 : Soon, shoppers would not be running around from one shop to another in search of gadgets of their choice, for the experts believe that they would soon "grow" their own gadgets.

Experts have predicted that with the pace of technological advancement, it would go up to such a level where people would be able to develop their own gadgets including washing machines and hair dryers within the next 75 years, reports the Telegraph.

The experts from ‘The Future Laboratory’ predicts that the technique will evolve within 75 years from a practice already used today, known as rapid prototyping.

Singapore  - The Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, said Tuesday that it has purchased an
11-per-cent stake in the US-based energy-infrastructure firm AEI for 400 million US dollars.

The purchase was made through GIC's private equity wing, GIC Special Investments.

AEI owns and operates businesses in emerging markets worldwide, including China, Mexico and Argentina.

Paris  - European aircraft manufacturer Airbus said Tuesday that production of its superjumbo A380 would take longer than planned, meaning it could produce 12 instead of 13 jets this year and 21 instead of 25 in 2009.

Airbus made the announcement after reviewing its production progress.

It would discuss details of deliveries with its customers in the coming weeks, it said. (dpa)

San Francisco - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has amassed some 50 million shares in Yahoo as he prepares to mount a proxy fight aimed at reviving Microsoft's thwarted takeover bid for the internet portal, The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday.

Singapore  - China's and India's growing share of the overall Asia-Pacific personal computer market has hiked the region's software piracy rate and increased financial losses, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) said in a report released on Wednesday.

"Although solid progress was seen in the region with 13 economies registering decreases in piracy rates, "the average PC software piracy rate increased from 55 per cent in 2006 to 59 per in 2007, the study said. "Dollar losses from piracy rose from almost 12 billion US dollars in 2006 to over 14 billion US dollars in 2007."

The annual PC Software Piracy Study, conducted by market research and forecasting firm IDC, was released in Singapore.

London  - Bradford and Bingley, one of Britain's smaller mortgage lenders, Wednesday announced it would ask shareholders to bolster its finances by 300 million pounds (600 million dollars).

The rights issue, which will see shares offered at a 48-per cent discount, follows similar moves by larger banking groups Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax Bank of Scotland.

Bradford & Bingley denied as recently as last month that it was planning to carry out a cash call. However, it said today that the move would reinforce its position as one of Britain's "better capitalized" banks. (dpa)

Tokyo  - Sony Corp said Wednesday that its net profit nearly tripled to a record in the past fiscal year, which ended in March, as its operating profit rose fivefold from the year before, thanks to brisk sales of liquid crystal display televisions, digital cameras and personal computers.

Net profit for the Japanese home electronics company rose to 369.44 billion yen (3.55 billion dollars) from 126.3 billion yen, beating estimates, while its operating profit, which is a company's earning minus interest payments and taxes, surged to 374.5 billion yen from 71.8 billion yen.

Its operating profit, which is seen as a measure of a company's earnings power from ongoing operations, was the second-highest ever seen by Sony.

London, May 14 : If the sales go up at the liquor store near your home, be sure that the amount of assaults on people will go up too.

The finding comes from a new research by a team of Canadian epidemiologists who calculated that an extra 1000 litres of alcohol sales increases the chances of suffering an assault by 13pct.

The study was led by Joel Ray at the University of Toronto, who along with his team tracked sales in nearly 600 state-run liquor stores in Ontario.

Athens - Greece said Wednesday it struck a deal to sell a three per cent equity stake in the country's telecom company, OTE, to Germany's Deutsche Telekom for over 442 million euros.

Greek Finance Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis said Deutsche Telekom would pay 29.75 euros per share for a three per cent stake in the Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation or OTE.

"The Greek government will receive 442.3 (US$682.9 million)," Alogoskoufis said.

Taipei  - Taiwan Cooperative Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in Taiwan, is likely to form a joint insurance venture with BNP Paribas SA in mid-2008, a newspaper said on Thursday.

Taiwan Cooperative, which is 40 per cent state-owned, is expected to hold a 51 per cent stake in the venture and has the right to appoint the new insurer's chairman, while its French counterpart would take a 49 per cent stake and the right to appoint the president, the Taipei Times quoted Taiwan Cooperative Chairman Hsu Teh-nan as saying.

Sydney  - Australian iron ore mogul Andrew Forrest on Thursday donated part of the proceeds of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd's first shipment to China to quake victims there.

Fortescue's maiden commercial shipment of 170,000 tons of iron ore left from the Pilbara region on Australia's west coast for China and customer Baoshan Iron and Steel Co.

Forrest, the chief executive of Fortescue, said the company had broken the iron pre-export duopoly enjoyed by BHP Billiton and rival Rio Tinto.

Forrest, overtook gambling tycoon James Packer to become Australia's richest man earlier this year. (dpa)

Singapore  - Singapore Airlines (SIA) launched Thursday its new all-business-class service to New York via Newark Airport in response to demand from corporate travellers, the carrier said.

"With this newly reconfigured aircraft, we will be increasing our business class capacity," said SIA Executive Vice President Huang Cheng Eng.

Providing customers with more personal space and privacy, the seats are arranged in a four abreast, one-two-one layout, with every seat having direct access to the aisle.

The seats convert into flat beds.

Tokyo  - Mizuho Financial Group Inc reported on Thursday a 49.8-per-cent net profit fall in fiscal 2007 from the year before due to a loss related to the US subprime home-loan crisis.

One of Japan's mega banks reported a net profit of 311.22 billion yen (2.96 billion dollars) after it incurred a loss of 645 billion yen from the US high-risk mortgage problems.

Mizuho's operating revenues jumped 10.3 per cent to 4.52 trillion yen in the year through March.

Looking ahead, the financial group expected a net profit of 79.9 per cent to 560 billion yen on operating revenues of 4.3 trillion yen, down 4.9 per cent, for the current year through March 2009. (dpa)

Riga - The Bank of Latvia left refinancing interest rate unchanged at 6 per cent on Thursday.

The lagged impact of the bank's decision to change interest rates in March on the economy, and the current ample liquidity in the financial system make it unnecessary to continue changing the country's monetary policy, the bank's Governor Ilmars Rimsevics told reporters.

As its economy slows down, The Baltic nation, which joined the European Union in 2004, is fighting inflationary pressures brought on by domestic demand and credit boom. (dpa)

Sydney  - China has approached Australian companies to team up for a billion-dollar share raid on giant miner BHP Billiton, news reports said Friday.

A tilt at the world's biggest miner and Australia's largest company would alarm the Canberra government, which earlier this year toughened restrictions on government-owned companies taking strategic stakes in Australian companies.

In February, state-owed Chinalco, in concert with US-based aluminium company Alcoa, took a 9-per-cent stake in Rio Tinto in what was seen as a bid by Chinalco to block BHP's proposed takeover of Rio.

China worries that a marriage of the world's two biggest mining companies would allow the new entity to jack up prices.

London  - British Airways BA) Friday announced a 45-per cent rise in pre-tax profits to 883 million pounds (1.76 billion dollars) in fiscal 2007-2008 despite soaring oil prices and the chaos surrounding the opening of the new T5 terminal in March.

The airline said that despite the "outstanding financial result" for the year ending March 31, 2008, it was facing challenges over fuel costs and a general climate of economic uncertainty.

Chief executive Willie Walsh said the "record results" meant that shareholders would be paid a dividend for the first time in 2001.

Nicosia, May 17 : The Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) which produces most of Turkey's crude oil output and operates more than 45 oilfields has recently announced that it will expand its exploration in the eastern Mediterranean Sea to include deepwater areas west of the island of Cyprus.

The move is expected to create tension as the exploration programme covers areas, which the Republic of Cyprus included in an offshore bidding round last year.

Lima  - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Saturday at a business meeting in Lima that South America is in top form.

"South America is going through a magical moment," Lula told the second seminar on Brazilian Trade and Investment Opportunities.

"I do not recall having had in my whole political life such a reasonable combination of economic growth, macroeconomic stability and, at the same time, a strong policy of social inclusion," Lula stressed.

Singapore - A majority of Singapore consumers have stopped doing business with at least one firm in the last year due to poor service, a survey said Monday.

Half of the 300 consumers queried rate the overall quality of service they received as fair or "poor/terrible."

Sixty-three per cent said their expectations are seldom met, according to the Accenture Survey on Customer Service Standards.

The results are similar to an Accenture survey last year of more than 3,500 consumers in China, Australia, the United States and Brazil.

Taipei  - Taiwan hopes to build itself into the Asia-Pacific financial centre, a newspaper said on Monday, but the plan faces difficulties as Taiwan's financial market is not liberalized and several other Asian cities are also competing to become the regional financial centre.

The Economic Daily News quoted Chen Shu, director-general of the Financial Supervisory Commission, as saying that after incoming President Ma Ying-jeou's government is inaugurated Tuesday, he will give priority to building Taiwan into the Asia-Pacific financial centre.

"During my four-year term, I will draft short-term, mid-term and long-term plans for building Taiwan into the Asia-Pacific financial centre," the paper quoted Chen as saying.

Stockholm/Oslo - Norwegian media group Schibsted said Monday it planned to buy 35 per cent of the free Swedish newspaper Metro for 350 million kronor (58 million dollars) and immediately cease publication of its own rival free newspaper Punkt SE.

The deal is subject to approval by Swedish competition authorities.

Punkt SE was one of three free newspapers available in the Swedish capital Stockholm but generated a loss in 2007 of 198 million kronor, and 44 million kronor in the first quarter of 2008.

The cost to shut down Punkt SE was estimated at 65 million kronor, Schibsted said in a statement.

London, May 19 : They might seem like just another pair of shoes, but the latest range of flip-flops goes beyond the category of “vanity footwear” and may actually be one of the greatest, most cost-effective boons ever for cellulite sufferers.

At 90 pounds a pair, the FitFlop seems an unlikely summer bestseller, but according to an adviser on biomechanics to UK Athletics, it is capable of performing miracles.

According to manufacturers, FitFlop not only helps body-conscious women to tone their bottoms and legs, but is also beneficial for people crippled with arthritis or back pain.

Sydney, May 19 : Majority of parents in Australia have urged the government to regulate junk food advertisements, as the commercials are making it harder for them to promote healthy eating habits among their kids, according to a survey.

The new survey released by consumer group Choice has shown that eight out of 10 parents want the Government to regulate the marketing of junk food to children.

And nearly nine out of 10 respondents admitted that junk food ads were making it difficult for them to promote healthy eating at home.

However, the survey did not reveal whether parents support a total ban.

Stockholm - Swedish businesses are losing money and productivity from the increasing amount of time which mployees spend surfing the internet during working hours, a news report said Monday.

Magazine Computer Sweden estimated that four years ago the average Swedish employee spent about two hours per work week on private surfing on the net. Now it is one hour per day.

Among the most popular web sites are financial and banking sites, while travel and tourism sites are also a favourite, the magazine said. Some 90-95 per cent of the website visits were private.

The estimates were tallied with the help of the analysis company Enecto.

New York  - Eight former executives of AOL have been accused with illegally inflating the internet company's ad revenue by a cool billion dollars.

In civil lawsuits presented Monday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission claimed that the executives oversaw or contributed to fraudulent transactions in which AOL Time Warner gave advertisers money to buy ads they didn't want or need.

The scheme allegedly inflated AOL's ad revenues and pumped up its stock price, giving the internet pioneer the leverage to buy Time Warner for 184 billion dollars in
2001 to form the world's largest media company.

San Francisco  - Microsoft's latest deal proposal to Yahoo envisages the internet portal selling off its valuable properties in Asia and the purchase by Microsoft's of Yahoo's search business in the US, the Wall Street Journal reported late Monday. Microsoft also proposed buying a minority stake in the whittled down Yahoo that would remain after the sell-off.

Details of the proposal came a day after Microsoft announced that it was resuming its effort to team up with Yahoo, though it stressed that negotiations were not aimed at a transaction for the takeover of the web portal.

London, May 20 : Young girls under five may be counting down the days before the new Hello Kitty mobile phones are launched, but the same cannot be said for parenting experts.

The launch of the phones in July this year is raising concerns among experts of kids being targeted at such a young age.

San Francisco - Technology giant Hewlett-Packard Co bucked the trend of a slowing economy Tuesday, reporting a fiscal second- quarter profit that rose 16 per cent from a year ago and delivered strong sales growth, led by increases in overseas revenue.

HP said it earned 2.1 billion dollars, or 80 cents a share, compared to profits of 1.8 billion dollars, or 65 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 11 per cent to
28.3 billion dollars from 25.5 billion dollars last year.

Singapore  - Singapore is emerging as an Asian role model for infrastructure finance with its small but active "public private partnership" (PPP) programme, Fitch Ratings said in a report released on Wednesday.

"While other Asian countries have executed larger PPPs, only a few have had Singapore's success in sustaining a steady supply of new projects," Fitch said.

Sydney  - India has followed China in making strategic investments in Australian companies to secure long-term supplies of the minerals its factories need.

The move on Macarthur Coal by giant steel company ArcelorMittal complicates Canberra's balancing act between ensuring national sovereignty and encouraging foreign investment, new reports said Thursday.

The 14.9-per-cent stake that ArcelorMittal took Wednesday in the Queensland coal miner comes as Australia and India hurry to complete a free-trade agreement before
2010.

The stake was just shy of the 15 per cent that would trigger an appraisal by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Singapore  - Bribery and other forms of dodgy dealings are not a huge problem in Singapore companies, a published survey said Thursday.

Only one in 10 firms polled in the Ernst & Young survey experienced an incident of bribery or corruption in the last two years, well under the global average of nearly four in
10.

Singapore  - Singapore Airlines (SIA), the only operator of the world's largest passenger aircraft, is adding an additional A380 service on the Singapore to London route on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, the carrier said on Thursday.

Passenger loads on the Singapore-London route "have been exceptionally encouraging," said Huang Cheng Eng, SIA's executive vice president for marketing. "The deployment of another A380 on this route will cater to continual strong demand."

Tokyo  - Japanese home electronics company Sanyo Electric Co reported Thursday that it returned to the black in fiscal 2007, which ended in March, for the first time in four years.

Sanyo's net profit rose to 28.7 billion yen (276 million dollars), up from a net loss of 45.36 billion yen a year before, thanks to increased sales of digital cameras and solar photovoltaic modules.

Sales rose 7.2 per cent in the fiscal 2007 to 2.02 trillion yen, and operating profit soared to 76.1 billion yen, up 78.7 per cent from a year before.

Paris  - A provision for a possible fine by US and European cartel authorities took a big bite out of profits for French air carrier Air France-KLM in fiscal year 2008, the company said Thursday.

The provision of 530 million euros (837 million dollars) for a potential fine for alleged air freight price-fixing led to a 16 per cent year-on-year drop in profits for the group, to
748 million euros, Air France said in a press statement.

However, profits without exceptional elements rose by 10.8 per cent, to 987 million euros, on turnover of 24.11 billion euros, up 4.5 per cent over fiscal year 2007. The company's fiscal year ends on March 31.

Helsinki  - Higher fuel prices and a slowdown in demand was expected to impact profits, Finnish flag carrier Finnair said Thursday, saying it expected lower profits for the six-month period ending June 30 than earlier estimated.

"At the beginning of the year, jet fuel cost 850 dollars per ton. Now the price is clearly above 1,300 dollars," Finnair said.

Chief Executive Jukka Hienonen said fuel costs were estimated to account for "more than a quarter of estimated turnover."

Washington - US home prices fell 3.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 from a year earlier, the sharpest drop recorded in the government's 17-year-old index, signalling the US housing and mortgage crisis is far from over.

The seasonally-adjusted purchase-only index fell 1.7 per cent from the fourth quarter - also the largest drop on record - as prices fell in 43 of 50 states, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) said.

"For homeowners and financial market observers, these declines spell further erosion in home equity levels and potentially more trouble for mortgage markets," OHHEO Director James B Lockhart said in a statement.

Taipei  - Taiwan's food and beverage giant the Uni-President Group plans to expand its investment in Shanghai ahead of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, a newspaper said on Friday.

Uni-President Group has earmarked 3.5 billion Taiwan dollars (109 million US) to expand its operations in Shanghai, the Apple Daily said.

The expansion includes raising the number of Starbucks coffee outlets from 131 to 170 and the number of the Cold Stone ice cream stores from 9 to 36.

The 2010 World Expo 2010 will be held from May 1-October 31, 2010, in Shanghai. It is expected to to attract more than 70 million visitors. Some 200 countries and dozens of cities and international organizations have been invited to attend World Expo 2010. (dpa)

Hanoi  - Vietnam has passed a law allowing certain categories of foreigners to buy apartments beginning in 2009, the first time the Communist country has allowed non-citizens to own real estate, the government website announced Friday.

The country's National Assembly approved the new law Thursday, with 88 per cent of deputies voting for it.

Foreigners eligible under the law can only buy apartments in developments approved for foreign residency, not houses or land. Ownership will be for a term of 50 years, by which time the foreign owners must sell or transfer the property.

Real estate developers said the law was likely to give a much needed boost to Vietnam's property markets, which have softened recently after explosive growth in 2007.

Tokyo  - Toyota Motor Corp and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co have decided to boost production of batteries for eco-friendly hybrid cars by 2011, The Nikkei daily reported Friday.

The two companies plan to build two factories in Japan to increase production of lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries to meet growing demand for Toyota's gas-electric hybrid cars.

It would be the first time for Japan's leading automaker to produce lithium-ion batteries.

Taipei - Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Group, in response to soaring crude price, is considering reviving its plan to mine oil sand in Canada to extract oil sand, a newspaper said on Saturday.

According to the Apple Daily, the Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC), which is under the Formosa Plastics Group, plans to send an inspection delegation to Alberta.

Bangkok - Thailand and Cambodia have resolved a border dispute over the Hindu-style Preah Vihear temple, paving the way for the ancient site to become a UN World Heritage Site candidate, media reports said Sunday.

In a meeting brokered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris Thursday, Cambodia agreed to a Thai proposal that only the temple compound, and not territory surrounding it, would be included in the World Heritage Site proposal, Thai Foreign Minister Noppodon Pattama told the Bangkok Post.

Moree, Australia  - Generations of the Kirkby family have farmed the dark alluvial soils near Moree in Australia's south-east corner.

Where merino sheep once grazed, there are now groves of olives and oranges. Cotton, which sustains the business now, may soon be gone as the global grain shortage makes a move further into wheat irresistible.

The Kirkby's Gwydir Grove brand of olive oil is in shops in the United States, China, Sweden and Singapore. The latest offering is an extra virgin oil infused with blood oranges.

Those new olive and orange groves are being irrigated with treated water from Moree's sewerage system.

Cologne, Germany - German product-testing company TUV Rheinland Group said Monday its turnover in Asia is rising steadily, 30 years after it set up its first laboratory in Tokyo to certify Europe-bound exports as safe and compliant with standards.

Currently the company employs more than 2,600 people in 14 Asian nations in a variety of business sectors, TUV Rheinland said. The Asian division now has its headquarters in the port city of Yokohama near Tokyo.

Phnom Penh - A lobby group comprised of Cambodian business people, archeologists and lawyers Monday called on the Thai government to return artifacts they alleged had been removed from the border temple of Preah Vihear decades earlier.

The newly-formed Khmer Civilization Foundation comprises heavy hitting lobbyists including prominent human rights lawyer Sok Sam Oeun, businessman Moeung Son and leading archeologist Vong Sotheara.

"We ask the Thai government to return artifacts ... from the temple," chairman Moeung Son told a press conference in the capital.

Munich  - German farming leaders on Monday called a milk protest strike, saying 88 per cent of dairy farmers would refuse from the next day to supply milk to dairy factories.

The farmers are angry at EU plans to increase output quotas and depress the market price of milk in the European Union. Brussels says it must respond to growing global demand for milk, especially from booming Asian nations.

Treviso, Italy - Italian clothing group Benetton announced Tuesday it has signed an agreement with department store chain Sears Mexico to develop its brand in the Central American nation.

Based in the north-eastern Italian city of Treviso, Benetton, which is known for its colourful knitwear, said in a statement it aimed to open 50 stores in Mexico.

Under the agreement, Benetton will also open points of sale in Sears department stores across Mexico, giving the Italian company a total of around 250 retail outlets in the Central American nation by 2011.

Sydney - Leading Australian airline Qantas Airways on Wednesday announced it would shed jobs, close routes and sell aircraft in the face of rising jet fuel costs.

"The fact is that fuel prices are something we have no control over, so we have to look harder at areas where we do have control," Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said in a statement.

"Despite our fuel hedging strategy, fuel surcharges, two separate across-the-board fare increases and a recruitment freeze, we are not bridging the widening gap between the actual increase in the cost of fuel and the amount we offset."

Dixon, who said fuel now represented 35 per cent of the annual expenditure, also announced a pay freeze for senior staff.

Hong Kong - A 101-carat colourless diamond the size of a squash ball sold for a record 46.2 million US dollars at a Christie's auction in Hong Kong, a radio report said Thursday.

The gem, the biggest colourless diamond ever sold in Asia and one of only three colourless diamonds over 100 carats ever sold, was bought by a private buyer at the Christie's auction in Hong Kong Wednesday.

Hong Kong - More than 700,000 mobile phone numbers have been registered for a service which aims to block out spam messages and faxes, a Hong Kong telecommunications watchdog said Monday.

Companies that continue to send unsolicited text and pre-recorded messages to registered numbers risk being fined under the scheme which began last December with the introduction of a law aimed at reducing spam calls.

Since then 3,064 people in the city of 6.9 million have registered complaints with the Office of Telecommunications Authority about unsolicited calls. Of those, 2,091 related to faxes, 439 emails and the rest were SMS and pre-recorded messages, and others.

London  - A leading British mortgage lender issued a profit warning Monday but also confirmed that it had sold a 23-per cent stake to a top US equity firm to bolster its finances.

Bradford & Bingley, Britain's leading buy-to-let lender, said US investor Texas Pacific Group (TPG) had agreed to inject 179 million pounds (358 million dollars) in return for its share.

The mortgage lender, Britain's eight-biggest, warned that underlying profits for the first four months stood at 56 million pounds, compared with 108 million for the same period in 2007.

Bradford & Bingley said it still needed to raise 258 million pounds from shareholders in a rights issues.

Amsterdam - US office supply manufacturer Staples has increased its bid for its Dutch counterpart Corporate Express, the company announced on Tuesday.

The US company is now offering 9.15 euros (14.24 dollars) per share, an increase of 1.15 euros per share.

The news comes two weeks before an extraordinary shareholders' meeting at Corporate Express, where the management is due to discuss the company's previous plans to takeover its French competitor Lyreco for 1.73 billion euros.

The takeover of Lyreco, which came shortly after Corporate Express rejected a takeover bid by Staples of 8 euros per share or 2.8 billion euros in total, including debts, is to be completed by the end of this year.

London  - Budget airline Ryanair Tuesday reported annual pre- tax profits of 419 million pounds (820 million dollars) but warned that ticket prices would have to rise to meet soaring fuel costs and charges.

The Irish budget carrier said it would not impose a fuel surcharge. But chief executive Michael O'Leary said the airline would ground up to 10 per cent of its fleet this winter to combat rising airport charges.

The pre-tax profits up to the end of March 2008 represent a rise of 17 per cent over the previous year.

O'Leary said the rising oil price had been mitigated through bulk buying at cheaper prices. But if fuel costs remained high, ticket prices would have to rise by about 5 per cent.

New Delhi- Japanese auto major Nissan said Tuesday it has identified India as one of the five low-cost countries where it would manufacture its new-generation compact cars.

"Nissan will compete in the entry-car market with a dedicated new A platform that will be used for at least three models, including the next generation of Micra, and will be built in five leading competitive countries (LCCs)," the company said in a release.

It said production sites for the new compact cars would include the new plant in the southern Indian city of Chennai being constructed by the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

Detroit  - Citing a structural change in the US auto market, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner announced Tuesday the closure of four truck plants in the US, Canada and Mexico and the launch of an electric car to hit showrooms in 2010.

The move by the US auto giant was its most dramatic reaction so far to months of spiraling fuel prices which have pushed Americans to abandon their long love affair with gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and trucks, as they migrate to smaller more economical cars.

Singapore  - The Asia-Pacific region is presenting dramatic opportunities for the investment management industry while global markets face further turbulence on fears of recession, a report said Wednesday.

KPMG estimated that 21.1 per cent of the world's high net worth individuals are in the Asia-Pacific region, with much of the wealth held in unstructured assets, particularly real estate and bank deposits.

The report forecasts this rising level of wealth among the middle classes will be a key driver for the funds management industry.

Singapore  - A private bank based in Liechtenstein plans to make Singapore a hub for its Asian operations, a published report said on Friday.

The VP Bank Group intends to increase its staff strength in the city-state from 12 to 26 in the next 12 months and is aiming to manage 5-billion-US-dollars worth of assets in Asia within five years, said Singapore managing director Reto Isenring.

The city-state was chosen as a hub because of its "business- friendly government and an attractive tax environment, a skilled workforce" and excellent infrastructure, The Straits Times quoted Isenring as saying.

New Delhi, June 6 : The Central Government’s declaration of a fuel price hike on Wednesday has raised inflation to 8.24 per cent from 8.1 per cent last week. This is the highest inflation in the last three and a half years.

Inflation for the week ending March 29 was revised upwards to 7.75 per cent from 7.41 per cent.

Petrol prices were hiked by Rs 5 per litre, diesel by Rs 3 a litre and cooking gas by Rs 50 a cylinder. The huge price hike was, however, offset by states reducing sales tax and custom duties.

Experts anticipate a steep increase in inflation.

HDFC Bank Chief Economist Abheek Barua said, "Inflation could cross nine per cent in the near term owing to the hike in petrol and diesel prices."

Taipei  - The American Superconductor Corp (AMSC) has licensed wind turbine technology to Taiwan's TECO Electric & Machinery Co to jointly explore the wind power markets in the US, Taiwan and China, a newspaper said on Saturday.

AMSC and TECO signed the deal in Taipei Friday, the Taipei Times said.

Under the deal TECO, a home appliance and telecommunications equipment maker, will obtain the technology from AMSC to manufacture FC2000 wind turbine systems capable of generating 2 million watts of electricity.

TECO will start making the generators in the US, Taiwan and China next year and sell the products in those markets.

Nairobi  - Shares in Kenyan mobile telecommunications firm Safaricom rose by 50 per cent on their first day of trading Monday months after Kenya's biggest public offering.

Stocks were trading at an average of 7.5 Kenyan shillings (0.12 dollars) compared to the initial share price of 5 shillings.

The government sold a 25-per-cent stake in Safaricom in March, meaning 10 billion shares were up for grabs.

Eager Kenyans and foreign investors oversubscribed the offering by in excess of 500 per cent, despite the post-election violence that saw over 1,500 people killed and doubts cast over the stability of the East African nation.

Vienna  - As Austrian Airlines (AUA) predicted losses of up to 90 million euros for 2008 on Monday, its governing board commissioned a study on a potential strategic partner, according to a company statement.

The Austrian flag carrier expected higher fuel prices to spill over to company results in 2008, leading to losses between 70 and 90 million euros (95 and 142 million dollars).

Austrian reported 3.3 million euros in profits in 2007, its first positive result since 2004.

Amid strong competition and high fuel prices, the airline posted a net loss of 60.4 million euros in the first quarter of 2008 ending in March, compared with 16.4 million euros in the same period last year.

Tokyo/New Delhi - Japan's pharmaceutical Daiichi Sankyo Co reached an agreement with India's Ranbaxy Laboratories to acquire a majority stake, the Japanese company announced Wednesday.

The acquisition was estimated to be worth between 3.4 and 4.6 billion dollars.

Daiichi Sankyo intends to boost cost competitiveness in effective use of manufacturing as well as research and development facilities, especially in India, through the acquisition, the company said.

"While both companies will closely cooperate to explore how to fully optimize our growth opportunities, we will respect Ranbaxy's autonomy as a standalone company as well," Daiichi Sankyo Co President & CEO Takashi Shoda said in a statement.

Warsaw - Low-cost airlines in Poland have hike their ticket prices by upwards of 20 per cent recently amid rising fuel prices, and more increases are expected, the daily Rzeczpospolita reported Wednesday.

Passengers are paying between 10 and 20 per cent more than a month ago, Rzeczpospolita said, with more price increases expected. The price of fuel - which accounts for about a third of carriers' expenses - is entirely to blame for the increased ticket prices.

Poles are beginning to feel the pinch as they plan their summer vacations. Trips to the Mediterrenean from Poland are now as much as 200 zlotys (92 dollars) more expensive than a year ago.

Helsinki - Finnish flag carrier Finnair Thursday said it planned to cut 500 jobs as part of cost-cutting measures to compensate for soaring fuel prices.

The carrier said fuel prices have "risen throughout the first half of the year at (a) much faster rate than anticipated," estimating the 2008 fuel bill will be 160-180 million euros
(248-279 million dollars) higher than in 2007.

While talks with unions were pending, the cuts were likely to include temporary staff and part-time workers as well as lay-offs, Finnair said.

San Francisco  - Yahoo entered an agreement Thursday to run some Google ads on its search pages after acquisition talks with Microsoft ended in failure, the web pioneer said.

The deal may add 800 million dollars a year to Yahoo's sales, but the companies will delay implementation till October to give the US Justice Department time for review, Yahoo said.

Sydney  - Shares in Australian investment bank Babcock and Brown plunged a further 23 per cent Friday as managers of the former stock market darling announced they would meet lenders in the next few days.

Shares in the country's second-largest investment bank fell 28 per cent Thursday and are now trading at around one-sixth of their valuation before the debt crisis hit a year ago.

B and B signed a refinancing deal with its major lenders, the Bank of Scotland being the most prominent among them, in March. It is now trading below a capitalization threshold figure that allows bankers to call for a review of 2.8 billion Australian dollars (2.6 billion US dollars) of debt.

Seoul, June 13 : Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni today said that to maintain high growth rate, tourism industry should guard itself against volatile economic trends and unforeseen natural disasters.

Addressing the 83rd Session of the Executive Council meeting of United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) at Jeju islands in South Korea, she said there were ample opportunities for encouraging tourism in South Asia but an increase in oil prices and economic recession may harm the tourism prospects in the region.

Natural disasters like cyclone in Myanmar and earthquake in China may also make the tourism scenario grim, Soni said.

Taipei  - Taiwan is warning investors of the rising inflation in Vietnam, but some large Taiwan companies said they will continue investing in Vietnam, a newspaper said on Saturday.

The Foreign Ministry issued the warning as Vietnam's inflation rate surged 25.2 percent year-on-year in May, while January-May inflation rate climbed to nearly 16 percent, compared with an inflation rate of 12.63 percent in 2007, the Liberty Times reported.

Wellington  - New Zealand farms are fetching record prices, defying the worldwide property market and the slowing economy, the Real Estate Institute reported on Monday.

The median price paid for dairy farms rose 50 per cent in the last year to top 4 million New Zealand dollars (3 million US dollars) for the first time in May, the institute said.

Record international prices for milk products have fuelled interest in dairying but the institute said that all types of farms were setting records with rural confidence showing no signs of waning.

New York  - American International Group Inc (AIG), the world's largest insurer, ousted its chief executive officer after suffering record losses and replaced him with a former top Citigroup Inc executive, Robert Willumstad.

Martin Sullivan resigned as the US-based company's chief executive officer, and AIG's board named Willumstad, its chairman, as his successor, AIG said Sunday.

The management change was announced after AIG reported more than 13 billion dollars of losses in the past two quarters, angering its shareholders, who have seen their stock value fall by 46 per cent since Sullivan took over as head of the company.

London  - Britain's Barclays bank said Monday it was considering raising cash from shareholders through a rights issue, following a number of smaller banks which have taken that measure to overcome the credit squeeze.

Barclays' announcement came after it was reported over the weekend that the bank had been in talks with foreign investors to raise 4 billion pounds (8 billion dollars).

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has already raised 12 billion pounds through a rights issue while Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) has said it wants to raise 4 billion pounds.

Barclays said it was "actively considering" selling new shares "by way of a placing and pre-emptive offer to existing shareholders."

New Delhi, June 16: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President K V Kamath will head a 13 member delegation to the United Kingdom for augmenting trade ties with India on June 19.

The delegation will explore opportunities for catalysing bilateral economic relationship, the Indian industry's perspective on the changing global economic scenario and opportunities for the both the countries to address these growing concerns.

The objective of the mission is to share Indian growth story, discuss common concerns on economic security, and explore opportunities for innovation in manufacturing, education and healthcare services.

London, June 16 : They may love the thought of dining in posh restaurants, but for millions of Brits the experience can be a really embarrassing one since they don’t know what to order or which cutlery to use for main course or the dessert.

With chefs like Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay gaining the limelight, a large number of diners want to try top restaurants. But after getting there, they are a bunch of confused souls, says a new survey.

The study, foodie festival Taste of Britain, showed that 59 percent of diners prefer to have food that they have tried before and avoid taking any kind of risk, reports The Sun.

Munich  - A former executive at Eurocopter, the helicopter manufacturing company in the EADS group, received a suspended, 11-month prison term Monday from a German court for spying for Russia.

Judges in Munich found the 44-year-old engineer had sold documents about the company's helicopters to an agent of the SVR foreign-intelligence service between 2004 and 2006 for a total 13,000 euros (20,000 dollars).

The sentence was reduced and suspended because he made a confession that led to the arrest of others who helped the SVR.

Paris - French natural gas supplier Gaz de France (GDF) and energy concern Suez said Monday that stock market authorities had given their approval to the companies' mega-merger, which could take place on July 22, pending shareholders' approval.

The merger would create one of Europe's largest energy groups, GDF Suez, with the French state holding a blocking minority stake of 36.5 per cent.

At the same time, it would pave the way for the launch on the Paris and Brussels markets of the water supply and treatment company Suez Environnement, Suez chief executive Gerard Mestrallet said.

Singapore  - The electronics arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering has won an 8-million-US-dollar contract to provide an advanced taxi despatch and management system in the United Arab Emirates, ST Electronics said on Tuesday.

The contract is for the Sharjah Public Transport Corp, St Electronics' first taxi management system project in the UAE.

It is based on St Electronics' automated system which integrates information communication technology, including wireless technology, automated booking and intelligent data mining for despatching taxis.

Washington, June 18 : A top intelligence official of the IAEA has reportedly said that that the US administration must buy uranium and plutonium from the black market to keep nuclear weapons away from terrorists, criminals and rogue states.

Speaking at the Washington Institute, IAEA Intelligence Director Rolf Mowatt-Larssen said that the US government was not doing enough to buy uranium and plutonium on the black market to keep weapons away from terrorists’ reach.

He said the US government assumes that terrorists or developing countries can obtain or develop a warhead on their own. “We must take urgent action to scoop up any nuclear material outside state control before terrorists do,” the Daily Times quoted him as saying.

Herzogenaurach, Germany  - German sportswear maker Adidas said Wednesday it had initiated legal proceedings against US retailer Wal-Mart in relation to the selling of shoes bearing similar markings to the three-stripe Adidas trademark.

A spokeswoman for the company, which has its headquarters in Herzogenaurach in the southern German state of Bavaria, confirmed a report in Germany's Handelsblatt business daily, but refused to reveal details of the legal application.

Handelsblatt reported Wednesday the application had been made in Portland in the state of Oregon on the north-west coast of the United States, where Adidas has its US headquarter.

Hearings are to begin on October 6.

Stockholm  - Clothing giant Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) reported Wednesday strong double-digit growth in both sales and profits in the first half of the fiscal year, citing unseasonably early summer weather as a contributing factor.

H&M, the world's largest clothing store chain, said net profit in the six-month period ending May 31 came to 6.9 billion kronor (1.14 billion dollars), up 19.3 per cent from the previous-year period.

The earnings came on sales of 41.4 billion kronor, a 12 per cent year-on-year gain for the corresponding six-month period.

Tirana  - Albania has sold state-owned oil refiner ARMO to US and Swiss investors for 128 million euros (198 million euros), the government said Wednesday.

Refinery Associates of Texas and Swiss-based Anika Enterprises and Mercuria Energy Group made the winning bid, Prime Minister Sali Berisha said. With the sale, the consortium will hold 85 per cent of AMRO's shares.

ARMO operates refineries at Ballsh and Fier as well as a network of petrol stations in Albania. Other bidders were independent trader Vitol and British-based Petrofac.

London - A luxury burger with the tasty price tag of 95 pounds (185 dollars) per piece is proving a hit with clients, according to the fast food chain which introduced what is touted to be the world's most expensive burger to Britain Wednesday.

"We have sold a dozen THE Burgers this morning already. This is of course ahead of the busy lunchtime and evening period at the restaurant," said Cian Mckenna-Charley of Burger King's Gloucester Road branch in central London.

The sandwich contains flame-grilled Japanese Wagyu beef topped with white truffles in an Iranian saffron and truffle bun.

New York - US multi-billionare Kirk Kerkorian's investment compnay Tracinda Corp. disclosed Thursday that it has boosted its stake in the carmaker Ford to 6.49 per cent.

Tracinda informed the Securities and Exchange Commission of the development which boosts its holding from the previous 5 per cent in the Detroit, Michigan-based car giant.

The development at the second-biggest US carmaker comes a few days after Tracinda officials had met with Ford executives, Chairman William Clay Ford Jr. and Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally, to discuss Kerkorian's bid to increase his stake in the carmaker.

Singapore - Four South-East Asian countries face a negative industry outlook for their banking systems amid the global economic slowdown and rising inflation, said Moody's Investor Service in a report issued Friday.

Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam are in for volatile times, said the annual Asia Banking Outlook.

Bank asset quality may deteriorate across the region, said Thomas Byrne, a senior vice president.

He noted that South-East Asian banks have not been directly affected by the spread of the US credit crunch.

Washington, June 20 : Individuals often sacrifice their personal self interest for the common good – and expecting them to behave selfishly by giving incentives can lead to bad policy, a new research has warned.

Professor Sam Bowles, from the Santa Fe Institute, in New Mexico, said incentives offered on the basis of "greed is good" could backfire for companies.

He argues today in the journal Science that economics will get it wrong, sometimes badly so. He points to new experimental evidence that people often act against their own self-interest in favour of the common good, and they do so in predictable, understandable ways.

London, June 20 : The positive effects of chanting on humans are pretty much well-known, but cheese is the latest candidate to reap benefits from the spiritual hymns.

Playing an album of chanting recorded by Gregorian monks, has made an Austrian school for dairy farmers to produce their prize-winning cheese.

"Cheese matures with the help of micro-organisms which I am sure also feel vibes. The music is very simple and I think that is what helps," The Mirror quoted head teacher Erich Kerngast, as saying.

Melbourne, June 20 : The much despised beer belly is back in fashion, and this time it has camouflaged itself as a sipper that holds 80 ounces of beer.

Giving freedom to drink the beverage wherever and whenever, the stealth beverage system called Beer Belly Cooler comes very cheap.

According to the minds who created the system, wearing the supplied bladder and attached hose, a person will be free to indulge in some cut-price grog and beat inflated prices at sporting and entertainment venues, reports The Daily Telegraph.

Seoul  - South Korea's largest steelmaker is engaged in talks to import iron ore and coal from North Korea, the steelmaker said on Wednesday.

The country's largest steelmaker, Pohang Steel & Iron Co (POSCO), said Kim Dong-Jin, CEO of its Chinese subsidiary POSCO China, will visit North Korea at the invitation of North Korea's committee for the inter-Korean economic cooperation.

"During his visit, he will be talk with his North Korean counterpart to sound out the chances of importing iron ore," a company statement said.

Compared with one year ago, POSCO is paying at least 65 per cent more for iron ore from Australia, Brazil, India, Chile and Canada.

Karachi  - Pakistani stocks maintained an upward momentum on Wednesday, mainly due to strong measures the government introduced to stem a prolonged sharp slide, traders said.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index leaped by another 2.5 per cent, or 307 points, to close at 12,430 after rising an historic 8.6 per cent on Tuesday, following emergency stability actions taken by the state watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

The recovery was good news for the main Karachi bourse, which had lost around 24 per cent since the beginning of the year on deepening political instability, economic woes and war threats by neighboring Afghanistan over insurgent infiltrations.

New Delhi, June 25 : The Aditya Birla Group's Idea Cellular today announced that it would acquire a 40.8 per cent stake in its rival mobile operator Spice Communications, for over Rs 2,700 crore in shares and cash.

Besides, Idea and Telekom Malaysia would make an open offer to acquire a further 20 percent stake in Spice for over Rs1, 000 crore.

The Malaysian firm would get over 46.4 crore Idea shares on a preferential basis for about Rs 7,300 crore.

Idea would acquire 281,489,350 shares of Spice Communications, representing a 40.8 per cent stake, at a price of Rs 77.3 per share.

New York - US brewer Anheuser-Busch will plans to reject a takeover offer from Belgian rival InBev, The Wall Street Journal Online reported late Wednesday.

Citing an Anheuser-Busch insider, the paper reported that the US beer giant, based in St Louis, Missouri, plans to reject InBev's offer of about 46 billion dollars.

A hostile takeover attempt could follow.

Budweiser's major US brands include Budweiser and Michelob, along with a stable of international brands. (dpa)

Seoul  - The chairman of Hyundai Motor Co has been cleaning rooms and feeding and bathing abandoned babies at a Catholic welfare centre as penance for his embezzlement conviction.

"I feel like being young again with babies," Chung Mong Koo said while holding a 1-year-old in his arms. "I have 11 grandchildren, and I would like to be babysitting these babies as if they were my own grandchildren."

A court sentenced Chung, 71, in February to three years in prison for setting up 90 billion won (87 million US dollars) in slush funds to bribe officials.

Berlin  - Axel Springer, publishers of two of Germany's biggest newspapers, is to enter the Indian market in a joint venture with the India Today Group, the German media group announced from its Berlin headquarters Thursday.
The new concern, called ITAS Media, is to be based in New Delhi, said Axel Springer, which puts out the mass-circulation Bild newspaper and the conservative broadsheet Die Welt.

The first publication, an Indian version of the motoring magazine Auto Bild, is to appear on Friday, making India the 33rd country where Auto Bild is published.

The magazine, billed as the world's largest-circulation motoring magazine, is to appear once a fortnight with a cover price of 40 rupees (95 US cents)

Berlin - Volkswagen unveiled Thursday a hybrid-drive car that can be charged up through an electrical power socket.

The test system, code-named TwinDrive and installed in a regular Volkswagen Golf compact car, is to be tried out till 2012, Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn said in the German capital Berlin.

After years of insisting that diesel engines were the answer, German car companies have rushed in recent months to develop hybrid cars, which have both electric motors and internal-combustion engines.

Hong Kong  - A wine school, a wine museum and even wine tourism are among the plans being considered by the government to make Hong Kong into a wine hub for the region, a media report said Friday.

Other proposals include the conversion of a munitions store and heritage sites into wine cellars, the South China Morning Post said, quoting Finance Minister John Tsang.

"We are identifying heritage sites that may be used for storage as well as many other wine-related activities, such as a wine school, a wine museum and venues for wine appreciation events," Mr Tsang said.

San Francisco  - Under continued pressure from Apple's iPhone and the RIM Blackberry, Palm Inc reported wider than expected losses and lower revenue late Thurdsay.

The smartphone pioneer lost 43.4 million dollars, compared with a profit of 15.4 million dollars in the the year earlier quarter, marking its fourth straight loss. Revenue fell 26 per cent to 296.2 million dollars from 401.3 million dollars last year.

Analysts said that strong sales of the company's low-end Centro smart phone failed to compensate for weak sales of the Palm Treo, which had lost sales to the Blackberry and iPhone competitors.

The Centro costs 99 dollars with a carrier contract, about half the price of the Treo.

Seattle  - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was set Friday for his last day of full-time work at Microsoft - the company he founded 33 years ago on a hunch that personal computers would become an integral part of everyday life.

The world's largest software company said that it was not planning any public events to observe the transition, though the change would be marked by internal events.

Gates, 52, will continue to hold the title of non-executive chairman and work about one day a week at Microsoft. He intends to devote the rest of his time to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the wealthiest charity in the world, which is aimed at improving healthcare around the world and reducing extreme poverty.

Brussels  - The European Union is targeting a number of companies that supply the steel and gas industries with crucial chemicals in an ongoing antitrust probe, officials confirmed Friday.

The EU's executive, the European Commission, has sent a so-called "statement of objections" to a number of companies that produce calcium carbide and magnesium powder, on suspicion that they could be operating a price-fixing cartel, a commission statement said.

The statement lists the reasons the commission has for suspecting that the companies in question are breaking EU rules. The companies have the right to reply in writing, setting out their case, the statement said.

Melbourne, June 27 : Irish airline Ryanair has taken its reputation to a raunchier level – after the European budget carrier’s CEO suggested that the business class passengers would receive free oral sex on the aircrafts.

O'Leary made the saucy remarks during a press conference in Germany about Ryanair's Trans-Atlantic flights.

Explaining that Ryanair's long-haul flights would feature a business class that went against Ryanair's typical low-budget ethos, O'Leary remarked that "in economy it will be very cheap fares, say 10 Euros, and in business class it will be bed and blowjobs".

Sydney  - The Australian affiliate of internet auctioneer eBay announced Saturday it would postpone the implementation of its controversial PayPal- or cash-only policy, pending the outcome of an inquiry by the country's consumer watchdog.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ordered a delay in the introduction of the policy, citing an "anti- competitive effect" as it would force people to pay either cash on delivery or pick-up, or via the eBay-owned PayPal system.

The policy was deemed anti-comptitive because it seeks to prevent credit cards or cheques being used for direct settlement.

Hong Kong  - Rising office rents are forcing consulates to either downsize or relocate to cheaper areas in the territory, a media report said Monday.

The Polish consulate, faced with a 250 per cent increase in rent, has already moved from the upmarket Pacific Place office complex in the Admiralty district to the less salubrious adjacent district of Wan Chai, the South China Morning Post said.

Singapore - Singapore Airlines (SIA) has signed a sale and leaseback deal on five of its Boeing 777 aircraft, the carrier said on Tuesday.

The aircraft will be sold to Pembroke Group Ltd, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank, and then leased back to SIA under the agreement.

The financial details were not disclosed. (dpa)

Seattle, Washington - Coffee giant Starbucks is to ice 600 of its US coffee shops as economic problems hit the ability of consumers to pay 4 dollars for a cup of coffee.

The company said it would also limit its new stores to 200, and that it expected to eliminate some 12,000 workers with the closures.

The cutback represents some 7 per cent of the company's workforce, and closing the underperforming stores will incur one-time costs of as much as 348 million dollars, the company said in a statement. Once the process is complete, Starbucks said that the move will boost earnings by 100 million dollars a year.

Seattle, Washington - Coffee giant Starbucks is to ice 600 of its US coffee shops as economic problems hit the ability of consumers to pay 4 dollars for a cup of coffee. 

The company said it would also limit its new stores to 200, and that it expected to eliminate some 12,000 workers with the closures. 

The cutback represents some 7 per cent of the company's workforce, and closing the underperforming stores will incur one-time costs of as much as 348 million dollars, the company said in a statement. Once the process is complete, Starbucks said that the move will boost earnings by 100 million dollars a year. 

Berlin - German retail sales are set to fall this year as surging inflation hits household spending in Europe's biggest economy, the nation's retail traders' organization (HDE) said Wednesday.

After a disappointing first half of the year, the HDE is not expecting much improvement in the coming months with the group revising down its retail sales projection to a slump in real terms of about 1 per cent as rising inflation eats into consumers' purchasing power.

About three months ago, the organization had predicted a marginal 0.5 per cent increase in retail sales.

The cut in the HDE's retail sales projections is despite the prospects of rising wages in Germany and a trend to lower unemployment.

Singapore - Average investors will soon have a new index providing more information on which to base decisions regarding 700 companies on the Singapore Exchange, organizers said Thursday.

The index will be compiled by the centre for investor and corporate responsibility, one of four centres within the new Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics.

It will provide a ranking similar to credit ratings, said Associate Professor Jeremy Goh, one of the centre's co-directors.

Using publicly available information, Goh said, "We will evaluate companies on components such as disclosure and transparency, role of stakeholders, treatment of minority shareholders and the rights of such shareholders."

Dusseldorf - Germany's IKB Industriebank AG, which has one of the nation's prominent casualties of the subprime crisis, reported Thursday a lower-than-expected loss as a tax benefit helped the group's earnings.

The Dusseldorf-based bank, which is currently up for sale, said its loss after tax for the year ended March 31 came in at 24 million euros (38 million dollars).

At the end of April the company's board had predicted a loss of 200 million euros. However, lower-than-expected deferred taxes helped the group to narrow the loss.

IKB has been on the market since the start of the year with the group having gone through a series of financial bailouts totalling 8.5 billion euros in the wake of the US subprime mortgage market crisis. (dpa)

Berlin- Germany, where angry dairy farmers recently poured milk down drains for 10 days in protest at low milk prices, has become the world's top exporter of cheese, according to new data Thursday.

The 2007 exports, valued at 2.7 billion euros (4.2 billion dollars) surpassed in value those of France, a junior minister of agriculture, Gerd Mueller, said in Berlin.

By tonnage, Germany had led competitors France, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Italy since 2006.

Hong Kong - HSBC has lost a digital tape containing 25,000 recorded phone conversations with bank customers in Hong Kong, a news report said Friday.

The tape, containing calls made in April mostly about credit cards and internet banking, was one of 55 tapes sent by courier from HSBC's service centre in southern China to Hong Kong in June.

The tape was found to be missing two days later and an investigation has been launched into whether sensitive customer data has been compromised, the South China Morning Post reported.

The bank insisted the tape was encoded and access to its contents would require specialized hardware and software, making the list of customers' personal details being used for fraud low.

Islamabad, July 5 : Latest figures issued by Pakistan's Federal Bureau of Statistics indicate that inflation has jumped over 31 per cent during the last one week.

This is first instance of inflation jumping to a record high in the history of Pakistan, lending an urgency to the need for Government intervention to hold millions of people falling into poverty trap.

The figures show that the prices of goods and services for the lowest income group increased as much as 31.6 per cent during the week ended on July 3 as compared to the same week of the last year.

Brussels/New York - The Belgian brewery InBev Monday sharpened its billion-dollar takeover bid of US brewer Anheuser- Busch, pushing shareholders to oust the Anheuser board and trying to leverage disagreement within the Bush family to its advantage.

The current board last month rejected a 46.3-billion-dollar offer as too low.

The Leuven, Belgium-based brewer said Monday in a submission to the US stock regulatory agency that it would try to use a special process provided in Anheuser-Bush's bylaws to derail the resistance.

Dusseldorf  - Henkel, the German-based detergents group which announced in February that it would cut its world payroll by 3,000, issued details Monday, including the closure of its laundry detergents plant at Genthin in eastern Germany.

The cuts inside Germany up to the year 2011 would eliminate 1,000 jobs or about one tenth of the payroll, said Henkel at its head office in the western city of Dusseldorf.

It said the manufacturing capacity at Genthin, where 240 people work, would be transferred to Henkel factories in Dusseldorf.

Singapore - The Islamic Bank of Asia (IB Asia) has launched two risk-management products to help companies manage their liability risks and limit their exposure to fluctuating funding costs, a published report said Tuesday. 

The products include a profit rate swap structure for customers to manage their liability risks, and a foreign exchange forward purchase contract to help clients capitalize on currency market movements. 

"These new structures can cut traditional transaction costs by as much as half," The Business Times quoted Kareem Hussaini, IB Asia's vice-president of product development, as saying. 

Munich - German carmaker BMW and its Italian rival Fiat disclosed Tuesday that they were studying whether to link up to make a small car that could be marketed as both a Mini and an Alfa Romeo.

The announcement, issued in Munich and in Turin, said a cooperation deal between the two marques to share "platforms and components" was conceivable. Mini is BMW's bottom-of-the-range brand.

The firms said they had already signed a declaration of intent but would not be releasing any more details yet. They would disclose by the end of the year how far the talks had proceeded.

Hanoi - Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security has teamed up with a Russian mobile phone operator to set up the communist country's seventh mobile phone network, an official said Wednesday.

Russia's second largest mobile phone operator, Vimpelcom, signed an agreement to set up the network with the Global Telecommunications Corporation under the public security ministry on Tuesday in Hanoi, said the official.

The joint venture jumps into the market alongside the Ministry of National Defence, which currently owns the largest mobile network, Viettel, with more than 40 per cent market share.

Singapore - Representatives of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) met in Singapore on Wednesday in a bid to make further progress on voluntary guidelines that would allay European and US fears of political interference.

A set of generally accepted principles and practices are under deliberation with the aim of promoting "a clearer understanding of the institutional framework, governance, and investment operations of SWFs that would support the maintenance of an open and stable investment climate," a statement by the SWF's International Working Group
(IWG) said.

The second working session of the 23-member IWG, which was formed in May, is seeking to formulate a code of ethics that could be formalized by October.

Hong Kong - The Hong Kong stock market debut of Macau's casino mogul Stanley Ho's flagship company was on Wednesday delayed as a result of a legal challenge by Ho's sister Winnie. 

Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM) Holdings Ltd, which owns 18 of the 28 casinos in the former Portuguese enclave, was due to begin trading Thursday. 

However, the company said in a statement Wednesday it had postponed its debut until July 16 in view of the legal challenge presented to the court by Winnie Ho on Monday and Tuesday. 

It said its directors believed the judicial review "constituted significant new information which might be material to investors' ability to make an informed assessment of the company." 

Seoul - South Korea and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have agreed to reach a free trade agreement (FTA) by the end of next year, officials said Wednesday.

"This week's meeting will be focused on laying the foundation for an early completion of the free trade talks," South Korean deputy Trade Minister and chief negotiator Lee Hye Min told reporters, as both sides started the first round of free trade negotiations in the South Korean capital Seoul. The meeting is expected to last two days.

The GCC includes Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

Riyadh  - Saudi Arabia vowed to end violations of human rights of foreign domestic workers, a labour official said in remarks published Wednesday, a day after a report revealed that thousands endure beatings and other abuses.

The Undersecretary at the Saudi Labour Ministry Ahmed al-Zamil was quoted by the Dubai-based Gulf News as saying the kingdom would enforce stringent measures to prevent mistreatment of domestic workers.

Employers abusing their maids would face imprisonment, he said.

A report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch said Tuesday thousands of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia experienced beatings and starvation and rather than receive justice face instead accusations of theft, adultery and witchcraft.

Hanoi - Police in Vietnam have arrested five men accused of kidnapping an Australian man of Vietnamese origin and asking for a ransom of 36,000 dollars, police said Wednesday.

Police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested the men, aged between 21 and 36, on Monday night. They kidnapped Vietnamese Australian Tran Ngoc, 33, last month, according to Nguyen Thanh My, a senior investigation police officer of the city.

My said further investigation into the case was under way and declined to give further details.

Ngoc, a businessperson owning construction companies in Ho Chi Minh City and Cambodia, had been reportedly kidnapped and taken to a hotel in the city on June 22.

San Francisco - Embattled Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang accused Microsoft head Steve Ballmer of trying to destabilize the internet company Wednesday, as a sharp war of words intensified ahead of Yahoo's decisive proxy shareholder vote on August 1. 

Yang's comments in an interview with The Wall Street Journal came two days after Microsoft revealed that it would restart acquisition negotiations if rebel Yahoo shareholder Carl Icahn was successful in his bid to oust the board and management at Yahoo's annual meeting. 

"I think that the destabilizing by Microsoft has become more and more intentional. I am not happy about it," said Yang, who repeated his accusation that Microsoft had no real desire to complete a deal. 

Berlin - The German government expressed confidence Thursday that the European defence company EADS would secure the contract to supply refuelling tankers to the US Air Force following the reopening of the tender. 

German Deputy Economics Minister Peter Hintze told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that EADS had the best chance of winning the contract, which the Pentagon relaunched on Wednesday. 

"I am sure that the new tendering process will again be fair and that in the end EADS' technically better proposal will win through," Hintze said. (dpa)

Vienna - Austrian brickmaker Wienerberger on Thursday predicted a 10 per cent drop in half-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), down from 256.6 million euros (402.6 million dollars) in the first half of 2007. 

Year-on-year earnings for 2008 would also decline, the world's largest brick producer said in its preliminary statement on half-year results. 

The spread of the housing slump from the United States to Britain was the main reason for lower earnings and revenues, the company said. 

Although revenue grew by three per cent in first half of 2008, up from 1.27 billion euros in the same period last year, it fell by four per cent in the second quarter. 

Thiruvananthapuram, July 10 : The Government of Kerala today decided to increase fares of ordinary and fast passenger buses by Rs one and fixed the minimum charges in these categories at Rs four and Rs five respectively.

Announcing the decision in the State Assembly, Transport Minister Mathew T Thomas said the decision to hike the charges was taken following the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products and motor vehicle spare parts.

A decision to change the concession rate of students would be taken only after holding talks with students’ organisations and Private Bus Operators, he said.

Berlin  - Germany's third largest electricity generating company EnBW will take a 26-per-cent stake in EWE, a smaller rival based in the north of Germany, EWE announced Thursday.

The deal, which has yet to be approved from competition authorities, is reported to be worth about 2 billion euros (3 billion dollars).

EnBW, which is based in southwestern Germany with headquarters in the city of Karlsruhe, is 45-per-cent owned by France's EDF. It achieved turnover of 14.7 billion euros last year.

Washington - General Electric Co said Thursday that it plans to spin off its entire consumer and industrial group to shareholders, as CEO Jeffrey Immelt strives to raise declining stock prices.

Two months back, the Fairfield, Connecticut-based conglomerate placed its century-old appliance unit on the block. Thursday's announcement means GE may exit from other units such as electrical switches and the light-bulb business.

Washington  - Wachovia Corporation, the country's fourth largest bank, hired a Wall Street veteran and expert in risk management, Robert Steel, as chief executive officer to help lasso down runaway losses tied to the US housing market, the company said Thursday.

The company has lost more than 3 billion dollars this year with the quick deflation of the mortgage market that has seen hundreds of thousands of homeowners walk away from their debts.

Steel, 56, is a former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs Group Inc and a one-time top official in the US Treasury Department. (dpa)

Washington  - Marriott International Inc, the world's largest hotel chain, Thursday reported a 24 per cent drop in profits for the second quarter of 2008, as US consumers cut back on travel.

The chain said its earnings in 2008 could be 11 per cent lower than its April forecast.

"We expect weak economic growth and soft US lodging demand to persist into 2009," Chief Executive Officer J. W. Marriott said in the statement.

Washington  - Dow Chemical Co has acquired its rvial Rohm & Haas Co for about 15.4 billion dollars in cash in a deal backed by the Kuwait Investment Authority and US billionaire investor Warren Buffet, the company said Thursday.

Dow is paying 78 dollars a share, a 74 per cent premium over Wednesday's closing Rohm & Haas share price. Financing includes Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway with 3 billion dollars and the Kuwait Investment Authority with 1 billion dollars, the Michigan- based Dow said.

Tokyo - Apple Inc's iPhone 3G debuted Friday in Tokyo, attracting more than 1,500 fans to the first sale, before being launched in the rest of the nation.

A long queue formed outside Softbank Mobile Corp's flagship store in Tokyo's fashionable Omotesando district early Friday morning.

"I want to try what's available on the iPhone as far as the new software goes," Jiji Press quoted a 25-year-old Japanese university student as saying. He travelled to Tokyo from Nagoya City in central Japan to win the first spot in the queue.

Sales of the iPhone were expected to help Japan's third-largest mobile phone carrier Softbank Mobile beat its rivals NTT DoCoMo Inc and KDDI Corp and lead the domestic market.

Singapore - Accounting graduates in Singapore set their sights on the Big Four accounting firms, a study of the profession said on Friday.

Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers have considerably less trouble attracting new hires than the medium-size or smaller counterparts.

Each year about 1,000 new accounting professionals graduate from universities in the city-state. Sixty-one per said they wanted to work for or join one of the Big Four, according to the findings of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA).

The medium-sized and smaller outfits have been relegated to look elsewhere or hire those with alternative forms of qualifications.

Kochi, July 11 : With tourism industry flourishing in Kerala, burgeoning Chinese food joints are adding flavour to the state''s booming economy.

The traditional Chinese fishing nets in the backwaters of Fort Kochi signify the 500-year-old Chinese trade relations with this coastal region in India.

Many Keralities love Chinese food and this led Kerala born, gulf returned businessman Jose Panikulam to come up with a Chinese Restaurant in the heart of Kochi city a few years back.

Another factor prompting Jose into the venture has been the potential and a flourishing tourism track record of Kerala.

London, July 11 : Employees of a Crawley, England, supermarket had to drag two elderly women on mobility scooters apart after they got into a fight, ‘ramming each other like dodgems’.

Workers said that they found the grandmothers trading blows in front of shoppers in an aisle of their Iceland store.

They were prized apart after staff heard screams.

"It was shocking. Seeing these two old ladies going for each other like that was truly disturbing," the Telegraph quoted a store worker, as saying.

The shelf-stacker, who did not wish to be named, added: "They could have been seriously hurt - they were ramming each other like dodgems."

Washington  - The US Senate approved a bill Friday to protect homeowners tied to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the wake of the smoldering real estate and credit crisis.

The legislation, approved 63-5 offers an estimated 400,000 to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure by refinancing their subprime mortgages into fixed-rate loans backed by the government, Bloomberg financial news service said. The bill also offers tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and sets aside 4 billion dollars to help communities buy foreclosed properties.

Together the government backers of real estate mortgages own or guarantee about half of all US home loans, or 5 trillion dollars worth.

Washington  - US banking customers were left with many questions over the weekend after the assets of California-based US mortgage bank IndyMac were seized Friday by US federal regulators.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said late Friday evening in California that IndyMac's failure was the largest US bank crash since the fall of the Continental Illinois National Bank in 1984. Observors are asking what is to follow the latest drama of the US credit crisis.

Singapore - A wholly-owned unit of Singapore's DBS Bank and the Kuwait Finance House have been granted licences to set up Islamic fund management operations in Malaysia, a statement said on Monday.

DBS Asset Management's chief executive officer Deborah Ho said the new entity will structure and distribute Islamic asset management products across Asia "via synergies with DBS and DBS' Islamic Bank of Asia."

Malaysia's Securities Commission granted approval to the two in addition to CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management.

"The approval of these three companies will play a catalytic role in the internationalization of our Islamic capital market," The Business Times quoted commission chairman Zarinah Anwar as saying.

Brussels/New York - US brewer Anheuser-Busch has agreed to a takeover by Belgium's InBev, creating the world's largest brewer, the Belgian company said Monday in a statement on its website.

Both companies had agreed on a price of 52 billion dollars, or about 70 dollars per share, said InBev, producer of brands like Stella Artois and Beck's.

"This agreement provides additional and certain value for Anheuser-Busch shareholders, while enhancing global market access for Budweiser, one of America's true iconic brands," Anheuser-Busch President and CEO August Busch VI was quoted as saying in the statement.

The deal has still to be approved by shareholders and competition authorities. The deal to create Anheuser-Busch InBev is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.

Amsterdam - Profit for the Dutch electronic company Philips was higher than expected in the second quarter of 2008, the company announced on Monday.

Total profit before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) amounted to 413 million euros (656.85 million dollars), higher than the 368 million euros (616.66 million dollars) analysts had forecast.

Primarily responsible for the good results was the lights division. Company results of Philips Lighting amounted to 202 million euros (321 million dollars), which is 40 million euros (63.59 million dollars) more than in the same quarter in 2007.

The good results were partly caused by American lights manufacturer Genlyte, which Philips took over last year.

Melbourne, July 14 : Aussie consumers are increasingly becoming averse to carrying cash with them, according to a survey conducted by a credit firm.

The MasterCard Worldwide global survey found Aussies to be among folks who feel the most uncomfortable about carrying big wads in their wallets.

The surveyors discovered that Australians were more willing to embrace new technologies like contactless payments.

Based on interviews with 7000 consumers in 13 countries, the survey showed that 80 per cent of the people Down Under used less cash these days than they did five years ago, behind South Korea with 87 per cent and New Zealand with 82 per cent.

Berlin - Industrial production in Europe plunged in May, data released Monday showed, as a result fuelling new fears about the outlook for economic growth.

Seasonally adjusted industrial production fell month on month by 1.9 per cent in the 15-member eurozone and by 1.4 per cent in the 27- member European Union, the EU statistic office, Eurostat said.

This represented an annual 0.6 per cent in the eurozone and a year-on-year fall of 0.5 per cent in the broader-based EU.

In April production grew by 1.0 per cent in the eurozone and 0.3 per cent in the EU. (dpa)

Singapore - Thailand, Taiwan and Japan are said to be considering gaming options which would create more "challenges" to casinos in Asia, a published report said on Tuesday.

There are currently 121 casinos in East Asia. Macau is the leader with 29, followed by the Philippines with 19 and 14 each for Cambodia and South Korea.

"The sector's long-term outlook very much depends on the industry's continued access to affordable capital to finance the building of the mega casino/entertainment/retail projects that consumers seem to crave," The Business Times quoted E&Y global gaming services leader Tom Roche as saying.

Amsterdam - The Dutch Authority for the safety of food and consumer products (VWA) on Tuesday said between 20 and 50 per cent of Asian electronics on sale for low prices in the Netherlands are unsafe.

The VWA made its statements in the Dutch daily Algemeen Daglblad.

The watchdog for consumer safety said also toys often do not meet minimum safety standards.

Last year, the VWA investigated more than 380 shiploads of electronic equipment, electronic wiring and toys, mostly made in China.

Between 20 and 50 per cent of the products did not meet minimum safety requirements.

The VWA said the quality of electronic equipment is often so poor that the chances of being electrocuted are real. (dpa)

Wellington - New Zealand's Commerce Commission filed criminal charges against three airlines for failing to cooperate in an inquiry into air-cargo price-fixing allegations and other anti-competitive conduct, the watchdog said Wednesday. 

The commission said Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways, Singapore Airlines and Aerolineas Argentinas in November refused to provide documents and information as requested under the country's Commerce Act. 

Commission chairwoman Paula Rebstock said the documentation was demanded as part of an inquiry into allegations that certain airlines had colluded and agreed on cargo rates, including fuel surcharges, on international flights to and from New Zealand. 

Singapore - Keppel Corporation launched a project to give young Middle Eastern students the opportunity to come to Singapore as interns with its businesses, it said on Wednesday. 

The group's current involvement in the Middle East includes shipyards in the United Arab Emirates, environmental engineering and waste management projects in Qatar and seafront apartments on the waterfront in Jeddah. 

The Keppel-Young Arab Leaders internship program is aimed at outstanding university students. 

"Human capital is an important asset," human resources director Tan Poh Hong said. "We believe strongly in maximizing the potential of our people to drive business growth globally." 

Hong Kong  - The Bank of China begun selling sets of special banknotes commemorating the Beijing Olympic Games Wednesday after tens of thousands of people besieged bank branches earlier in the week.

In an effort to control the queues, the bank issued tickets to people giving them a specify time to buy the banknotes being offered at six designated branches of the bank.

But Bank of China staff warned some customers that tickets for the most-coveted items, sheets of uncut banknotes, had already been distributed. As a result speculators were offering the free tickets and banknotes for sale on the internet.

China's central bank is selling 2.93 million sets of 20 Hong Kong dollars (2.56 dollars) in five different combinations until July 31.

New York  - Soft drink giant Coca-Cola said Thursday that profits fell 23 per cent in the second quarter on writedowns by its largest bottler.

Net income was 1.4 billion dollars, or 61 cents per share, in the quarter, dropping from 1.9 billion dollars, or 80 cents a share, in the year-earlier period, the Atlanta, Georgia-based firm said. Revenues rose 17 per cent on strong international sales to 9 billion dollars.

Washington - A worldwide banking coalition on Thursday proposed reforms in how the international industry does business, in response to the global credit crisis that arose from the 2007 meltdown in the US mortgage market. 

The Institute of International Finance (IIF), an association of 380 top banks and financial services companies, issued a report in Washington after nine-month study of "best practices" for the industry by an IIF committee focused on the ongoing turmoil in lending and financial markets. 

The proposals were lead by a call for better risk management. 

New York - Technology colossus IBM reported second quarter income of 2.77 billion dollars Thursday, up 22 per cent over the year ago quarter on strong global growth in sales of services, hardware and software. 

Revenue rose 13 per cent to 26.8 billion dollar, with 7 per cent of that growth stemming from currency gains caused by the record weakness of the US dollar. 

"IBM had an outstanding quarter and a strong first half for 2008. These results demonstrate that IBM has the ability to thrive in both emerging and established markets," said Samuel J Palmisano, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer. 

San Francisco - Struggling computer chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices replaced its CEO Hector Ruiz Thursday, appointing AMD president and chief operating officer Dirk Meyer in his place. 

The move was announced as AMD, which has struggled in recent years to compete with sector leader Intel, reported a loss of 1.2 billion dollars on the quarter. AMD's revenue rose to 1.35 billion dollars from 1.31 billion dollars, but it was short of the 1.45 billion dollars expected by Wall Street. 

AMD shares were down 20 cents, or 3.8 per cent, to 5.10 dollars in after-hours trading. AMD's stock was above 40 dollars as recently as 2006, and the resulting fall has vaporized 20 billion dollars in shareholder wealth. 

New York - Troubled investment bank Merrill Lynch, the country's third largest securities firm, late Thursday reported higher-than-expected second quarter losses, with writedowns of 9.7 billion dollars as the economy slows. 

The company reported 4.65 billion dollars in losses, compared to profits of 2.14 billion dollars in the same period last year. 

Merrill Lynch also confirmed that it was selling 20 per cent stake of 4.43 billion dollars in Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News. The company also said it intended to sell a controlling share of mutual fund administrator Financial Data Services. (dpa)

New York - US real-estate mogul and casino operator Donald Trump has sold his villa in Palm Beach, Florida, for 95 million dollars to fellow billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev of Russia, a newspaper reported.

The price was believed to be the highest ever paid for a single-family home in the United States and bucked the trend of falling home prices in the wake of its US subprime mortgage crisis.

"I love breaking records, and this is a record," Trump, who is also known for starring in the reality-television show The Apprentice, told the Palm Beach Post.

Trump's asking price for the 2-and-a-half-hectare, beachfront property had been 125 million dollars, and he told the newspaper that Rybolovlev had made a great deal.

New Delhi - The corporate feud between India's billionaire Ambani brothers has flared up after arbitration proceedings were started against Reliance Communications, a move that could thwart the company's merger with South African telecom firm MTN, news reports said Friday. 

Johannesburg/Harare - Zimbabwe's central bank has introduced a bearer's cheque of 100 billion Zimbabwe dollars in a bid to ease recurrent cash shortages bedeviling an inflation-ravaged economy.

Zimbabwe has not had formal currency since the introduction of bearer cheques as a temporary measure in 2003.

The new bills officially come into circulation on Monday but on Saturday they were on already on the foreign currency dealers market.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono said the new notes were for "the convenience of the banking public and the corporate sector," in light of the price hikes.

Sydney  - International shopping centre magnate Frank Lowy, Australia's second-richest man, vowed to fight allegation aired in the United States that he used the European jurisdiction of Liechtenstein to hide millions of dollars from the taxman.

Australia's ABC Radio reported Sunday that Lowy, who ranks below only iron ore mogul Andrew Forrest on the wealthiest list, issued a statement rejecting the charges.

London - Britain's HBOS bank, one of the first to turn to investors for a cash boost, said Monday that less than 10 per cent of its shareholders had taken part in a rights issue of 4 billion pounds (8 billion dollars). 

Halifax Bank of Scotland said just 8.29 per cent of investors opted to buy heavily discounted shares as part of the scheme to help strengthen its balance sheet, announced in April. 

This means that the rights issue's underwriters, Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Kleinwort, have to find buyers for more than 3.6 billion pounds worth of shares by Tuesday's deadline, or accept the stock themselves if they fail to do so. 

Washington - US toy company Hasbro Inc Monday reported higher-than-expected second-quarter profits, boosted by the sales of Star Wars and Indiana Jones action figures.

Net income rose to 37.5 million dollars, and sales climbed 13 per cent to 784.3 million dollars, the company said.

The revenue exceeded analysts' estimates as consumers bought action figures tied to the Iron Man and Indiana Jones films that released earlier this year, as well as next month's animated Star Wars film, Bloomberg financial news agency reported.

New York - Credit card company American Express reported a massive drop in profits Monday as more customers defaulted on their payments.

Second quarter earnings fell 38 per cent to 653 million dollars, or 56 cents per share, from 1.04 billion dollars, or 86 cents per share, in the year earlier period.

Revenue rose 8 per cent to 7.5 billion dollars from 6.9 billion dollars in the year-earlier period.

Chief executive Kenneth Cenault warned that the firm's profit goal for the year could likely not be reached. (dpa)

New York - US pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co dropped on Wall Street Monday ahead of its earnings release after a study showed a cholesterol-lowering drug did not prevent complications from heart- valve disease and was linked to higher cancer rates.

The drug, Vytorin, produced by Merck and Schering-Plough Corp, did lower cholesterol as promised, but did not did not reduce heart problems and had a larger incidence of cancer among study participants than a placebo - though researchers said that may have been coincidental, Bloomberg financial news reported.

Merck shares dropped 6.2 per cent on the news.

Bangkok - The number of Thai companies that were forced to close down during the first half of this year nearly hit 7,000, up 22 per cent compared with the same period in 2007, news reports said Tuesday.

Altogether 6,899 companies were shut down in the January to June period, with 1,681 firms closing in June alone, according to figures released by the Business Development Department.

Thai firms are facing a myriad of challenges this year including rising oil prices, an inflation rate that reached 8.9 per cent in June, a slow down in consumption and growing political instability that has affected foreign investment.

Stockholm - Swedish telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson on Tuesday posted a 49-per-cent drop in operating income for second quarter 2008 partly impacted by ongoing cost cutting measures.

Operating income was 4.7 billion kronor (789 million dollars), down from 9.3 billion kronor in the corresponding business period 2007.

The group reported 48.5 billion kronor in sales for the quarter, up 2 per cent on the corresponding business quarter 2007 but a weak dollar rate impacted the group.

Net income was 1.9 billion kronor, down 70 per cent on second quarter 2007, the group said, adding that earlier announced cost cuts including plans to lay off some 4,000 employees impacted the group with 1.8 billion kronor in the quarter.

Manila - The Philippines on Tuesday finally opened a new terminal at its main international airport after almost six years of delay due to a dispute with its builders, a German-led consortium.

A pre-dawn flight to Caticlan airport in the central province of Aklan became the first to take off from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 in Manila.

Caticlan is a connecting point for tourists going to Boracay Island, a favourite vacation destination known for its white-sand beaches.

Authorities said the NAIA Terminal 3 would operate only partially in the next six months to one year before it shifts to full domestic and international operations.

Prague  - Czech financial group PPF said Tuesday it plans to withdraw its takeover offer for Czech generics drug maker Zentiva, pulling out from a bidding war with French pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis.

"The reasons for our step lie in reasonable doubts about the real value of the company and also in recent attitudes of Zentiva's management," the financial group said in a statement.

Washington - United Parcel Service Inc Monday reported a 21- per-cent drop in profits, caused by rising fuel costs and a slowing economy, which have affected both domestic and international package segments.

UPS, the world's largest package-delivery company, reported net income of 873 million dollars, compared with a profit of 1.1 billion dollars last year.

Revenue rose 6.7 per cent to 13 billion dollars, according to a company statement.

Washington - Caterpillar Inc, the world's largest maker of earth-moving equipment, Monday reported a 34-per-cent increase in second-quarter profits, riding high on increased sales in Asia and the Middle East.

Net income increased to a record 1.11 billion dollars, from 823 million dollars a year earlier. Sales increased 20 per cent to 13.6 billion dollars.

Munich : Siemens, the German engineering group, confirmed Wednesday plans to dispose of a transportation-division plant that employs 950 people in the Czech Republic, but said it hopes to find a buyer rather than close the site.

The components plant in Prague was earmarked for disposal as part of a scheme to save German jobs during the current job-cutting drive at the Munich-based group, which seeks to shrink its workforce while keeping the same volume of business.

Siemens said the site makes components for the group's high-speed Velaro trains, known in Germany as inter-city expresses (ICE), and for slower passenger trains.

Washington  - Northwest Airlines is flying deeper into the red in the second quarter it announced on Wednesday as a result of high fuel prices and a writedown of its assets. The loss was 377 million dollars after a profit of 2.1 billion dollars for the year earlier period.

Taipei - Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission approved Polaris Securities Company's application to set up a branch in Singapore, a newspaper reported Thursday.

Wu Tang-chieh, director-general of the Securities and Futures Bureau, said the commission cleared Polaris to open a branch in Singapore, allowing the company to expand its business abroad, the Taipei Times said.

Polaris is the first Taiwan securities firm to get approval to establish a branch in the city state, in keeping with Taiwan's liberalization and globalization policy, Wu told a press briefing.

Wu said Polaris chose Singapore because of its tax system, financial expertise and large Chinese population. (dpa)

Seoul - The South Korean semiconductor manufacturer Hynix plans to close a factory in the US state of Oregon by the end of September because of a steep decline in the price of memory chips, the company said Thursday.

More than 1,200 jobs would be affected at the 10-year-old factory in Eugene, company spokeswoman Park Seong Ae said.

The world's second-largest memory-chip manufacturer after South Korea's Samsung Electronics is moving away from production of older 200-millimetre wafers made in Eugene and toward newer 300-millimetre wafers.

The company said it might continue to use the factory or sell the equipment, building and land to another semiconductor maker. (dpa)

Melbourne, July 24 : An expert from the Internet Advertising Bureau has warned that website operators are using tricks to boost traffic numbers in the eyes of advertisers.

Patty Keegan says that one such trick to boost click counts is stretching news stories across multiple pages.

"There are things like news sites that rotate new ads in as news is updated," The Australian quoted her as saying.

Washington - US chemical concern Dow Chemical Company reported Thursday that it continues to suffer in view of rising costs from sinking profits.

Although price increases for its products earned the largest US chemical company 762 million dollars in the second quarter the gain was lower than the same quarter last year.

Revenues climbed nearly a quarter to a new record value of 16.4 billion dollars, the Midland, Michigan-based company said on Thursday.

Washington  - With a flourishing foreign business the US conglomerate 3M defied the recession at home in the second quarter, the Minnesota-based company reported Thursday.

The company's surplus rose by three per cent to 945 million dollars. Revenues climbed nearly ten per cent to 6.7 billion dollars.

The manufacturer of Post It notes and Scotch tape confirmed that it had so-far achieved its profit objective for the current year.

New York  - US small appliance maker Black & Decker said Friday profits shrank in the second quarter as declining demand in Western Europe and the United States coupled with rising costs.

Net profits fell 18 percent to 97 million dollars. Revenue fell 3 per cent to 1.6 billion dollars, and the Towson, Maryland-based firm predicted the week sales would continue in the second half of the year.

Singapore - Chief information officers (CIOs) based in six of the 10 members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have a high degree of confidence in their ability to handle technology-related functions, a study released Monday found.

Conducted by the French business school Insead and IBM, 94 per cent of the executives queried maintained their importance has gone up.

The 2008 ASEAN CIO Leadership Study was conducted among 165 CIOs in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore from January to May.

Some significant differences were found between the perception of ASEAN CIOs and their global counterparts surveyed last year, according to the findings published in Singapore's Business Times.

New York  - Chewing gum maker Wrigley said profits rose 14 per cent in the second quarter ahead of its scheduled take-over by candy giant Mars.

Profits were 194 million dollars, or 70 cents per share, the Chicago-based company said. Revenue rose 14 per cent to 1.6 billion dollars.

The company was boosted by the weaker dollar that aided international sales, which accounted for most of the firm's revenues.

New York - Merrill Lynch & Co will sell a 3.4-billion-dollar stake to Singapore's government-owned Temasek Holdings, the US financial services firm announced late Monday.

Temasek already bought a Merrill stake last year and will become the firm's largest shareholder.

The sale is part of Merrill Lynch's plans to sell 8.5 billion dollars in stock in an attempt to raise capital as it tries to survive the ongoing US credit crunch, arising from rampant mortgage defaults.

Singapore - US investments in Asia grew 12 per cent last year with the biggest jump coming in India, where acquisitions in the information sector propelled the increase, media reported Tuesday.

Investments in the rising economic giant surged 48 per cent to 13.6 billion US dollars in 2007 from a year earlier, according to US Commerce Department statistics published in Singapore's Business Times.

Investments in China rose 21 per cent to 28.2 billion dollars as a result of reinvested earnings in manufacturing, the department said.

Those in Thailand soared 37 per cent to 14.9 billion dollars largely because of investments in petroleum refining, banking and mining while investments in Malaysia jumped 25 per cent to 15.5 billion dollars.

Tokyo - Toshiba Corp posted an operating loss for the first quarter through June 30, mainly due to sluggish sales in its flash memory business, the company said Tuesday.

The Japanese home electronics company's operating loss amounted to 24.2 billion yen (228.1 million dollars) in the April-June period, down 45.4 billion yen from the same period a year before.

Toshiba incurred a net loss of 11.61 billion yen, down 32.2 billion yen, from a net profit of 20.63 billion yen a year before.

Sales dipped to 1.62 trillion yen, down 45.9 billion yen from a year before, due to a yen's advance against the US dollar and steep declines in semiconductor sales prices, Toshiba said. (dpa)

Frankfurt - Europe's biggest software group SAP AG said Tuesday despite strong business in emerging markets second-quarter net profit fell 9.1 per cent.

Based in the German town of Walldorf, SAP said that net profit in the latest quarter slipped to 408 million euros (642 million dollars) from 449 million euros during the same period last year.

This was despite a strong showing by its business in the Middle East, Africa and the Asian Pacific region.

New Delhi, July 29 : While the offshore (international) BPO market faces pressures with economy-wide slowdown in developed markets, the domestic BPO market is getting ready to take off.

According Arun Jethmalani, CEO, ValueNotes, “Unlike the overseas business, labor or cost arbitrage does not drive the domestic BPO market.

It’s strategic factors such as the need to scale rapidly, focus on core competencies, enhanced productivity and reduced time to market that are driving domestic demand”.

New York  - Starbucks will close nearly three-quarters of its stores in Australia as part of a massive ongoing restructuring move to cut costs amid weaker sales, the coffee giant said Tuesday.

The Seattle, Washington-based firm also announced Tuesday that it would cut another 1,000 jobs at its US stores and eliminate its chief operating officer position.

The moves are part of overall cuts that chief executive Howard Schultz said earlier this month would see the closure of 600 under- performing US stores.

Washington, July 30 : Hiring star employees to up your firm’s performance is a futile exercise, suggests a new study, which shows that managers who seek to appoint a ‘star’ staff are likely to be disappointed.

According to the Management Insights feature in the current issue of Management Science, the talented bunch are not going to perform well in the office and they themselves are likely to be unhappy.

“Can They Take It With Them? The Portability of Star Knowledge Workers’ Performance” is by Boris Groysberg and Linda-Eling Lee of Harvard Business School and Ashish Nanda of Harvard Law School.

New York  - Starbucks reported losses in its third quarter due to costs related to the closure of 600 stores in the United States, the coffee giant said Wednesday.

The Seattle, Washington-based firm lost 7 million dollars in the quarter down from earnings of 158 million dollars in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 9 per cent to 2.6 billion dollars.

New York  - The Walt Disney Company said Wednesday that earnings rose in the third quarter led by profits from its theme parks and cable television networks.

Net profits rose 9 per cent to 1.3 billion dollars, or 66 cents per share, including one-time profits, from 1.2 billion, or 58 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. Nearly half the profit came from the purchase and sale of subsidiaries, including the acquisition of Disney Stores North America and the sale of movie. com.

New York  - US tabacco company Altria, whose brands include Marlboro, said Thursday second-quarter profits rose after it spun-off its international operations on higher cigarette costs in the United States.

Earnings rose 30 per cent to 930 million dollars over year-earlier earnings excluding international operations. Revenue rose 4 per cent to 5.1 billion dollars, the Richmond, Virginia-based company said.

New York  - The Eastman Kodak Company, manufacturer of cameras, film and other photography company, said Thursday that profits fell in the second quarter on higher materials costs.

Net profits fell 14 per cent to 459 million dollars, or 1.62 dollars per share, from 575 million dollars, or 2 dollars per share, in the year-earlier period.

Revenue rose just 1 per cent to 2.5 billion dollars, the Rochester, New York-based firm said.

Munich - Siemens announced Friday it was selling most of phone maker SHC to investment company Arques, ending its traditional link with phone production.

Siemens provided no financial details of the sale of 80.2 per cent of SHC (Siemens Home and Office Communications Devices), which is, like the parent company, based in Munich.

Apart from phones, SHC also makes accessories for rapid internet access and internet telephony and receivers for digital television.

Arques chief Michael Schumann said the investment company, which buys companies with the aim of restructuring them and selling them on, aimed to boost SHC's key brands.

New York  - Chevron Corp, the second-largest US oil company, said Friday profits soared to a recored in the second quarter on surging oil prices.

Net profits rose 11 per cent to 6 billion dollars, or 2.90 dollars per share, from 5.4 billion dollars, or 2.52 dollars per share, in the year-earlier period, the San Ramon, California-based energy company said. Still, earnings fell below analysts' estimates.

Revenue rose 48 per cent to 82.9 billion dollars.

Vienna  - Net profits of Austria's largest bank, Bank Austria, dropped 12 per cent to 1.06 billion euros (1.66 billion dollars) in the first half of 2008, data released by the bank showed Friday, as trading losses offset growth in Central and Eastern Europe.

Bank Austria, a subsidiary of the Italian UniCredit group, said the international banking crisis affected trading especially in the first quarter.