London - Leading budget airline Ryanair said Monday the steep rise in the oil price had led to a 47-per-cent fall in net profits in the six months to the end of September.

The Irish carrier said net profits between April and September stood at 169 million pounds (277 million dollars).

Chief executive Michael O'Leary said he was confident the profits would recover if the oil price, currently at 80 US dollars a barrel, continued to fall.

"We have a significant cost advantage over our competitors many of whom have hedged fuel next year at significantly higher levels than current market prices," O'Leary said Monday.

Yangon - Trade between Myanmar and China increased 60 per cent in the past fiscal year, ranking China the second-largest trading partner for the country after Thailand, news reports said Monday.

Trade between Myanmar and China reached 2.4 billion dollars for the year that ended March 31, compared with 1.5 billion the previous fiscal year, Myanmar's prime minister, General Thein Sein, said last week in Nanning, China at a summit between China and the Association of South-East Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member

Hanoi - Heavy rains and floods in Vietnam have killed at least 49 people and left five missing since Friday, disaster centres reported Monday.

In Hanoi, state media said at least 18 people were killed in the heaviest floods to hit the capital since 1984. Among the dead were three children on their way to school who fell into sewers through drains that lacked protective covers.

Widespread power outages also struck the capital. All schools were closed Monday.

The central province of Ha Tinh reported 17 deaths with the rest of the deaths spread among other provinces in northern and central Vietnam.

Heavy rains continued to fall in Vietnam's northern provinces Monday morning.

Washington, November 3: Guy Ritchie has found himself in the hit list of his estranged wife Madonna’s “biggest” fan, who has reportedly threatened to kill him.

The 40-year-old filmmaker had to call in security on the sets of his upcoming flick ‘Sherlock Holmes’ after a rampant fan “devoted” to the ‘Queen of Pop’ allegedly started waving a 12-inch blade in search of the director.

According to Britain''s Sunday Mirror newspaper, as the teen was being towed away, he yelled “I''m Madonna''s biggest fan! Where''s Guy? I''m going to kill him!”, according to reports.

Peshawar, Nov 3: The quake-hit people in Balochistan are begging for shelter from the Pakistani authorities ahead of the winter season.

A strong earthquake of 6.5 magnitude on the Richter Scale had struck the province on Wednesday, killing at least 215 people and destroying thousands of mud houses.

The epicentre was in Ziarat – a picturesque valley where night-time temperatures have falling below freezing.

“We’ve got food, we’ve got relief, but we don’t have tents which can save our children from the cold,” said Rehmat Kakar, a 70-year-old farmer standing by the rubble of his house in Wam Khazi village.

Hong Kong - Like most things from the cradle to the grave in Hong Kong, it used to be simply a question of money. If you had it, then a bed in a maternity ward at a private hospital was yours. Hong Kong's birth rate was falling, and maternity care was very much a buyer's market.

But things have changed dramatically in the past five years. Now women opting to give birth in one of Hong Kong's private hospitals have to book their beds as soon as they discover they are pregnant, with some of the hospital's maternity units already fully booked until May.