The rate of inflation has increased to 12.01 percent. It is the highest rate in past 13 years. The inflation rate was 11.98 per cent in the last week. The wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation rate is increased due to increase in the prices of as pulses, spices, eggs, fish and meat and some dairy products.

Although the rate of steel is not increased by steel companies yet the increase in the prices of cement contributed in the rise of inflation rate.

Vienna - The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the

The increase in TDS receipts and buoyancy in corporate profits led to an increase in the direct tax collection, including corporate and personal income tax, by 46.95% to Rs 71,648 crore in April-July this year.

A finance ministry statement said, “Robust growth in direct tax collections is a result of tax education and compliance mechanism put in place by the Income Tax department in the area of tax deducted at source (TDS) and tax collection at source (TCS) and indicates further improvement in tax administration and tax compliance levels.”

Cairo  - Egyptian police on the Gaza Strip border exchanged gunfire with three smugglers attempting to bring fuel and food to the strip, Cairo sources said Thursday.

Vienna - The price for crude oil produced by the Organization

Nairobi  - A suspected leading terrorist with links to the international al-Qaeda terrorist network managed to escape arrest in the Kenya capital over the weekend, The Standard newspaper reported Monday.

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, thought to be a key figure in the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, returned to Kenya last week from Somalia, the report said, citing police sources.

He was in hiding in his house in the coastal village of Malindi and managed to flee just an hour before police arrived to arrest him, the report said.