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Canadian admirer sends Israel's Tzipi Livni diamond ring

Jerusalem - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni may be married with two children, but that did not stop a Canadian admirer from sending her what looks like a diamond ring, an Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday.

The 18-karat golden ring arrived at Livni's office in Jerusalem with an international package delivery service, Yediot Ahronot said.

Her security people first scrutinized it to ensure the package contained no bomb, but once they opened it, they found a silver- coloured luxury box with the ring inside.

A letter with only the words "I'm aware of myself" and a photograph of the sender, a Canadian from Quebec, accompanied the box.

BP reports huge profit rise in third quarter of 2008

London - Oil giant British Petroleum (BP) Tuesday reported third-quarter profits of 6.4 billion pounds (10 billion dollars) on the back of record oil prices.

All the pressure on Hamilton, says Massa

Hamburg  - Ferrari's Felipe Massa believes all the pressure is on title rival Lewis Hamilton ahead of the final Formula One race of the season, Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

The McLaren-Mercedes driver Hamilton holds a seven-point lead over Massa following his victory in Shanghai on October 19 and will be crowned the youngest F1 world champion ever at the age of 23 if he finishes in fifth place or higher.

Even if Hamilton finishes outside the points, he will still clinch the drivers' title, if Massa finishes third or lower.

But despite the destination of the championship being out of his hands, the Brazilian feels confident that he could still snatch the title from Hamilton.

Astronauts wouldn’t need to wear spacesuits in NASA’s new Moon rover

Astronauts wouldn’t need to wear spacesuits in NASA’s new Moon roverLondon, Oct 28 : NASA has unveiled a new lunar rover that aims to transform space exploration by allowing astronauts to roam large distances without cumbersome spacesuits when they return to the Moon by 2020.

According to a report in New Scientist, a team of scientists is testing the Small Pressurized Rover Concept vehicle, which resembles a small, futuristic recreational vehicle mounted on six sets of wheels. 

Nomura Holdings reports first semester losses

Tokyo  - Nomura Holdings Inc, Japan's largest brokerage house, was hit hard by the global financial crisis, reporting losses of 149.4 billion yen (1.57 billion dollars) for the first half of the business year on Tuesday.

During the same period last year, Nomura posted profits of 64.2 billion yen. Japan's business year ends on March 31.

It was the third quarterly loss for the company, which took over the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and European operations of failed US brokerage Lehman Brothers last month.

In the quarter from July to September, Nomura's reported net loss widened to 72.9 billion yen, compared with a net loss of 11.7 billion yen the previous year.

Honda lowers net profit projection for fiscal 2008

Tokyo  - Honda Motor Co lowered its net profit projection for the full year through March 31 due to a stronger yen and decline in sales, the company said Tuesday.

Japan's second-largest car maker by sales revised downward its net profit projection to 485 billion yen (5.1 billion dollars) from an initial figure of 490 billion yen because of the rising yen value and slow sales in North America.

Honda reduced its forecast for operating profit to 550 billion yen from an earlier projection of 630 billion yen.

The company expected sales to drop to 11.6 trillion yen from 12.13 trillion yen it estimated in July, it said.

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