Madrid  - Representatives of Spain's black community Wednesday hailed US president-elect Barack Obama's victory as changing the perception the world had of black people.

"This totally changes the vision" that people have of "the capacity of the black community," said Luis Alberto Alarcon, an Afro-Colombian activist who lives in Madrid.

Obama's election as US president proved that blacks could reach the highest levels whenever "the political context allows them to move forward," Alarcon, who heads the Spanish section of the ecologist Life Foundation, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

New Delhi - Microsoft founder Bill Gates said Wednesday that India could successfully lead the way in eradicating polio and that his foundation would continue to provide resources for polio eradication in India and other countries despite the economic downturn.

Gates was addressing a news briefing in the Indian capital after visiting several health centres to observe polio surveillance, vaccination and eradication activities.

Hanoi- Vietnamese businesses are having trouble getting loans from banks despite the State Bank's decision to cut the benchmark rate from 13 per cent to 12 per cent effective November 5, executives said Wednesday.

"We find it really hard to ask for loans from banks at this time," said Truong Thai Son, of Hoang Quan Real Estate in Ho Chi Minh City. "We have to cancel or delay about
30 to 50 per cent of our planned projects due to lack of cash."

Dhaka- Dhaka on Wednesday explained to Beijing the reasons for the current tension in the Bay of Bengal over Myanmar's gas exploration in disputed maritime territory between the two neighbouring countries.

"I have explained our peaceful intentions to our Chinese friend, and expressed our hope that Myanmar dismantles the installations on the disputed waters," Bangladesh's Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said.

Sarajevo- Bosnian authorities arrested two Serb military officers suspected of taking part in the massacre of Muslims at Srebrenica 13 years ago, local media said Wednesday.

The two high-ranking officers, Momir Pelemis and Slavko Peric, face genocide charges for their alleged role in the imprisonment and execution of 1,700 Muslim boys and men in 1995, after the Bosnian Serb army entered the Srebrenica enclave, in the east of the country.

Stockholm - The SAS Group, the operator of the joint carrier
Scandinavian Airlines, on Wednesday posted a pre-tax loss for third-
quarter 2008, citing high fuel costs, the economic downturn and a
goodwill writedown in its Spanish-based carrier.

SAS chief executive Mats Jansson said the group needed to implement
more belt-tightening measures saying the "crisis in the air travel
industry strikes indiscriminately."

He noted the recent bankruptcy of low-cost rival Sterling Airlines, one of some 30 carriers to fold so far this year.

The SAS Group posted a third-quarter pre-tax loss of 1.78 billion
kronor (231 million dollars) compared to a pre-tax profit of 457
million kronor in the corresponding business period of 2007.