London - Britain's Northern Rock mortgage lender, which was nationalized in the wake if the credit crisis, reported losses of 585 million pounds (1.17 billion dollars) Tuesday for the first six months of 2008.

The Newcastle-based bank, which was taken under "temporary" government control in February, said most of the loss came from the charges it took to cover losses from struggling mortgage borrowers.

However, Northern Rock also paid back a loan of 9.4 billion pounds from the Bank of England, reducing the amount owed to 17.5 billion pounds. The figures published Tuesday relate to the period from January up to the end of June.

Tokyo - A former executive of a Japanese construction consultancy company was arrested on suspicion of bribing a Vietnamese official with about 300 million yen (2.78 million dollars), media reports

The leading Mobile Company, Nokia is all set to give its competitors a tough fight. The company has taken a clever move by slashing its handset prices by 10%.

The rivals which include the names of Sony Ericson, Motorola, Samsung and LG are left with only two choices. Either they can follow Nokia and slash off the costs of their hand sets too, or they keep marketing their cell phones at the same prices.

Sydney, Aug 1: ArcelorMittal, the world's number one steel company with 310000 employees in more than 60 countries, is now looking to expand its operations into Iraq.

The steel company is learnt to have submitted a proposal to rehabilitate a steel facility in southern Iraq, the country’s Minister of Industry and Minerals Fawzi Hariri said.

Tokyo - Nomura Holdings Inc has reached an a

Hong Kong - The Jockey Club, which controls all legalized betting in Hong Kong, saw revenue surge in two of its three core businesses, it said Friday.

The rise came despite the threat from illegal operators and increasing deregulation in other parts of Asia, including Macau, where there has been a boom in the gaming industry after the government opened the sector in 2002.

The club said betting revenue from horse racing climbed 5.8 per cent last season, which ended in July, from the previous season, hitting nearly 67.7 billion Hong Kong dollars (8.68 billion dollars)

Revenue from football betting surged more than 14 per cent to 34.5 billion Hong Kong dollars.