Vienna - The price for crudes produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) continued its climb and was hovering just below the 110-dollar mark, OPEC said on Wednesday.

One barrel of crude oil from OPEC's reference basket stood at yet another record high of 109.92 dollars on Tuesday, up 99 cents from the previous day.

Hopes for OPEC to increase production in the near future were dashed as OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem el-Badri ruled out an extraordinary meeting until the next regular meeting, scheduled for September.

Vienna - The price for crude produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) continued its record- breaking rally on Wednesday, OPEC said on Thursday.

One barrel of crude from OPEC's 13-brand reference basket stood at 106.65 dollars on Wednesday, up from 105.73 dollars the previous day.

The bullish performance in recent days was mainly down to the weakness of the US dollar, OPEC analysts said. (dpa)

Vienna - The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) remained close to last week's peak on Friday, OPEC said on Monday.

One barrel (159 litres) of crudes from OPEC's reference basket stood at 103.67 dollars on Friday, down 7 cents from Thursday's peak of 103.74 dollars.

OPEC calculates an average basket price based on 13 brands produced by cartel members. (dpa)

After the inflation rate moved up to a nine-month high to 5.11%, RBI governor YV Reddy stated that India’s monetary plan has already included the rising food and fuel prices.

According to the data, the annual wholesale price inflation rate touched 5.11% in the week ended March 1, and the prices have gone up by 5.01% during the last week.

It is projected that inflation will go up in the coming weeks. Mr. Reddy had recently expressed his worry over increasing food and energy prices.

The central bank wishes to keep inflation around 5% during the 2007/08 fiscal year ending March 31.

New Delhi, Mar 14: Inflation rose to over nine-month high at 5.11 per cent for the week ended March 1, due to rise in prices of some manufactured items and aviation turbine fuel, dashing all hopes of interest rate cuts by the RBI to boost the sagging industrial production.

The wholesale price index-based inflation rate stood at 5.02 per cent in the previous week and 6.51 per cent in the correspondingly week a year earlier.

This is the second week in a row that the inflation rate crossed the five per cent mark, the target set by the reserve bank for this fiscal.

By April 2009, the customers will be capable of withdrawing money from ATM without paying any charge.

The Reserve Bank of India has directed the commercial banks to let customers’ free use of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) for all transactions from 1 April 2009.

According to an RBI announcement, the customers can also use ATMs of other banks for balance enquiries free of cost.

The RBI has also asked banks to put a limit on the fees charged for using ATMs of other banks to Rs 20 for each transaction from March 31, 2008, and eradicate the same from April 2009.

Fujitsu has rolled out a 3.5G-enabled mobile companion, named ‘The LifeBook U1010’ in the Indian market, which it claimed to be the world’s smallest tablet-convertible ultra mobile PC (UMPC).
It offers users a first-class combination of function, superiority, method and infinite connection. It weighs just 630 grams.
Powered by Intel processor A110 with 800MHz of processing power, the U1010 consists of newly designed 0.2 mm aluminum plated QWERTY keyboard and sports a 5.6-inch SuperFine WSVGA display that is a Passive Touch Panel with 1024×600 pixels resolution. The U1010 has dimensions of 171mm (w) x 133mm (d) x 26.5-32.0mm (h). Besides, it has a palm resistance touch screen that permits the fingers to do the work, without a stylus.

Chicago: Diabetes risk increases with lack of sleep, according a new study.

US researchers said that deep, restful sleep is good for keeping Type 2 diabetes at bay.    

In study findings, the researchers observed that slim, healthy young adults who do not experience the deepest stage of sleep known as slow-wave sleep developed insulin resistance- linked to Type 2 diabetes just after three nights.

Eve Van Cauter, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, said, “It demonstrates the importance of deep sleep not only for the brain, but for the rest of the body.”

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans to permit Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) registered with market regulator SEBI and sub-accounts of FIIs to short sell, lend and borrow equity shares of India companies from February 1, 2008.

However, the entire FII short selling, lending and borrowing mechanism will be subject to the current FDI policy, which allows FDI ranging from 26% to 100% across different sectors.

RBI said in a notification on its web site that the short selling of equity shares by FIIs shall not be permitted for equity shares that are in the ban list and /or caution list of Central Bank.

London, Dec 21: Queen Elizabeth II has become the oldest-ever living monarch of the United Kingdom at the age of 81.

Born on April 21, 1926, Elizabeth ascended the throne in February 1952, when she was 25 years old.

Over the years Elizabeth has seen many things, which include becoming a grandmother for the eighth time, with Prince Edward and his wife Sophie welcoming a baby boy.

Also, the Queen has received many unusual gifts including jaguars, sloths, beaver, an elephant, pineapples, eggs, snail shells, maple trees and 7kg of prawns.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has finally tightened banks’ capital market exposure by implementing new rules and regulations.

In a circular, RBI has told that entities such as FIIs are not permitted to avail of fund or non-fund based facilities such as irrevocable payment commitments (IPCs) from banks, under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The banks have been asked to unwind all such guarantees given on behalf of FIIs within six months.

Mumbai: The central bank (RBI) has specified that the foreign venture capital (VC) funds those kick in a part of the investment upfront, will get entry to Indian markets.

The condition laid down by RBI is related to some credible capital obligation before obtaining a formal registration.

Typically, a new foreign venture capital fund first forms an investment holding company in Mauritius with rudimentary capital, often not more than a few dollars. The investment company then files for registration with Indian regulators, and once it gets the approval overseas investors are gradually roped in.

Smoking leads to lung cancer and heart disease that might be cognizant to many people. But do you know it also causes grievous respiratory circumstance in which the airways get barred? So Smokers mind it.

To a higher degree 13 million Indians are dupes of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), where the patients’ airways are blocked.

While addressing presspersons on World COPD Day, B.V. Muralimohan, consultant pulmonologist of Narayana Hrudayalaya, commanded smoking was one of the main does for acquiring COPD.

Mumbai: The Indian central bank (RBI) has annihilated the anticipations of interest rates alleviation by raising CRR, the sum of money banks must hold in cash, by 0.5 percent (now 7.5%) to drain liquidity regardless of inflation at a five-year low.
But the RBI do not make any changes in the key lending and borrowing rates (repo and reverse repo) and bank rate in the mid-term appraisal of the monetary plan.
Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) is the amount of cash that is demanded by the banks to park with RBI that does not pay up any interest on such depositions.

London: Life is a precious gift. Live happily, and relish every moment of it.

Scientists at the University of Nottingham have discovered that it’s the simple things in life, which impact optimistically on one’s pleasure sense.

Lead researcher, Dr. Richard Tunney, of the university`s school of psychology told that cheerful people liked the free and simple treats, whereas those who identified themselves as more distressed or restless picked out CDs, DVDs and meals out.

Islamabad, Sept 23 : Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf’s undertaking to the Supreme Court that if re-elected by the Parliament, he would step down as Army Chief before being sworn in on November 15, is a promise that rings hollow to some, and one that has been heard before.

According to an article in the Time magazine, some lawyers and analysts see the promise as an attempt to pre-empt an apex court decision declaring him ineligible to run for President.

Washington, Sep 23 : The arrest of 45 people, mostly Pakistanis, in an FBI sting operation in Maryland has stunned Pakistani-Americans as they fear that it would further strengthen the negative stereotyping of their community in this country.

"People are scared. It will have a very negative impact on the entire community," said Munir Ahmad, a member of the Maryland Muslim Council.

"Some of the suspects were known in the community and people have been dealing with them," he said.

"People say that they were licensed money dealers and apparently law-abiding citizens. We don’t know what happened," Ahmad added.

The Taoiseach is defending the contact he made with an AIB official to inquire about transactions under investigation by the Mahon Tribunal.

Jim McNamara told the tribunal that Bertie Ahern contacted him this year to ask about particular lodgements being investigated by inquiry, told Jim McNamara to tribunal.

Mr. Ahern was marveling what conclusive evidence the bank had that three specific lodgements made in the 1990s were foreign exchange transactions.

Mr. McNamara accepted that it was a very unusual request from the Taoiseach.