Business

Bicycle sales in Australia have recorded record sales of 1,273,781 units for 2006, exceeding car sales by 32 percent. It is the fifth year in a row that the bicycle industry has sold more than one million units, a figure yet to be realised by car manufacturers. The Cycling Promotion Fund (CPF) spokesman Ian Christie said Australians were increasingly using bicycles as an alternative to cars. Sales rose nine percent in 2006 while the car market stalled. Mr Christie said people were looking to cut their fuel costs and improve their fitness. Mr

Great Britain has paid off the last of the loans it received to rebuild the country after World War II, sixty years ago. The last payment of US$83.25 million was transferred electronically to the United States on the last business day of 2006, along with an additional US$22.7 million to clear a similar debt owed to Canada. The original loan of US$4.34 billion, equivalent to about $27 billion in today's dollars, was negotiated in 1945 by John Maynard Keynes to protect the country from bankruptcy. Canada contributed US$1.2 billion, or an equival

On January 1 2007, Slovenia officially joined the Eurozone and adopted the euro as its new official currency. At the same time, Slovenian euro coins, which were available as a "starter kit" from December 15, became legal tender everywhere in the Eurozone. A period of dual circulation, when both the former currency, the tolar and the euro will be accepted, will only last until January 14. All banks are going to exchange tolars into euros at the official rate of 239.64 SIT per 1 EUR at no commission until March 1, 2007. After that date it will b

Governor Jon Corzine announced a bill that would provide $270 million to stem cell research. He announced, "I don't want New Jersey to join the crowd of stem cell research states, I want New Jersey to lead it." BusinessWeek reports that the announcement came two days after Corzine announced that the state will give out $10 million in research grants next year, including $7 million for stem cell research. Below is a summary of the fund allocation. + Fund allocation Funds Recipient $150 million Rutgers University for a stem cell research insti

The New Zealand government has announced that the Telecommunications Amendment Bill, which will make Telecom unbundle the 'local loop', has passed in parliament only six months after it was introduced. The bill was passed under urgency on the last sitting day of the year. The bill was opposed by two members of parliament from the ACT party and supported by 119 votes. The ACT party voted against the bill to prevent a split of the company into three divisions: retail, business and network. Unbundling the local loop means that Telecom, New Zeal

Ex-President Jimmy Carter has decried the current Palestinian situation in his recent book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (). In this he compares the building of the barrier in the West Bank to the policy of apartheid (apartness) in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. There, the policy legalized the separation of races and ensured the domination of whites over all others. Carter gave as examples of the ways in which the peoples of the territory are divided. He cited the concrete walls, fences and electronic devices erected by Israel to contain th

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand wrote to retails banks warning them that there will be a shortage on 20 cent coins (NZ$0.20) leading up to Christmas. They have now announced that they have distributed 4.75 million new twenty cent coins in the past week alone "...close to the number issued in a typical year." Ten million new coins are expected to arrive in the next few days. The Reserve Bank is wondering where all the new coins went, just five weeks after the new design was first introduced. Brian Lang, currency manager for the Reserve Bank, s

The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex touched yet another milestone today by crossing the historic 14,000 mark. At 9:58 a.m. (local time), BSE-30 share index touched a new high of 14,028.47 points, which was 154 points higher than closing (13,874.33) of the last day. Market closed at 13,937.65 which was also all-time closing high and 63.32 points higher than previous closing. Sensex touched the new milestone just after 35 days which comprised of only 26 trading sessions. NSE index (Nifty) was 14.75 points higher (0.37%) at 4015.75 with an intra-

The U.S. government warned private financial services that al Qaeda is planning a cyber attack on the U.S. stock and bank accounts, officials said on Thursday. Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke says: "There is no information to corroborate this aspirational threat. As a routine matter and out of an abundance of caution, US-CERT issued the situational awareness report to industry stakeholders." The officials said that the attacks are aimed at destroying the databases of U.S. banking and stock market web sites. The Homeland Security group

The New Zealand conservation minister, Chris Carter, announced Thursday that it will be illegal in New Zealand to hunt great white sharks in New Zealand waters or in any waters with a boat carrying the New Zealand flag starting in April 2007. The decision is being hailed by conservation groups who claim the sharks would become extinct if hunting continued. It will be illegal for a great white sharks, also known by the less common name white pointer sharks, to be hunted, possessed, killed or traded within 200 nautical miles of New Zealand accor

Armed Fijian soldiers took control of the streets of Suva, Fiji just before dawn In a show of force, the troops fired a mortar into the harbour and over Nukulau Island, where George Speight, leader of the Fiji Coup of 2000, is currently serving a term of life imprisonment for his role in the overthrow of the constitutional government. Most of the mortar rounds fell into the ocean. Soldiers, travelling in a convoy of trucks, set up barricades on key roads that led into the central business district of Suva while others patrolled the city. Ma

India's economy has grown by 9.2 percent in Q2 (July-September) of the fiscal year 2006-07, which was 8.4 percent last year for the same quarter. The annual growth rate, of Asia's fourth-largest economy, for the quarter is also higher than that of the last quarter's (April-June), which was 8.9 percent. India's annual economic growth has been an average of 8 percent since past three fiscal years. According to Central Statistical Organisation, real estate and communications-led services recorded an unexpected increase of 13.9% in the quarter.