Business

A recently created Danish clothing company is selling on the internet T-shirts in order to support the clandestine radio station of the Colombian guerrilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the graphical workshop of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In fact the money will be used by these groups to carry on their terrorist activities. FARC activities include kidnappings, masacres, bombs, extortions and the drug trade. Fighters and Lovers is selling the T-shirts at 170 DKK (US$27.6), from which 35 D

A 15ft (4.5 meter) northern bottle-nosed whale has been spotted swimming in the river Thames in Central London, UK. The "Thames whale" managed to swim up past the Thames barrier and under many bridges, reaching as far as Chelsea before it turned around just before Albert Bridge. TV news helicopters scrambled to provide live TV footage of the whale, and many spectators lined the banks of the river. The whale is said to be looking healthy, although some fear that the whale may beach itself as it tried to do before rescuers forced it back into

US stocks suffered their biggest declines in more than two years on concerns about oil supplies from Iran and Nigeria. Crude oil prices jumped to more than $68 a barrel, levels not seen since September last year. Gold hit a 25 year peak and last traded at $553.50 an ounce. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) slumped 213+ points today amid fears of Iran and terrorism. The index has now given up all its gains since the beginning of the year. Among its 30 components, only McDonalds ended the day in positive territory. Disappointing earnings

Iran, has decided to pull its finances out of European banks and into different foreign banks. A senior Iranian official stated that this is an attempt to pre-empt possible U.N. sanctions over its resumption of nuclear fuel enrichment activities. Comments by Iran's central bank governor Ebrahim Sheibani, carried on air by the ISNA student news agency, confirmed that Iran had started transferring funds. "We transfer foreign reserves to wherever we see as expedient. On this issue, we have started transferring. We are doing that," Sheibani told

In Beijing, China, 1.9 billion US dollars in pledges came from 33 countries and a host of multilateral institutions at the end of a meet co-ordinated by the World Bank. The amount exceeded the organization's estimate of $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion in funds required to contain the avian flu over the next three years. In addition to aiding research efforts, the money is expected to help strengthen surveillance and increase the stockpiling of surgical masks and other equipment. The United States was the largest donor, pledging $334 million in g

Andrzej Marek, a journalist working in the north-western town of Police in Poland, began a three-month jail sentence on January 15 2006. Marek is the editor of a regional weekly newspaper, the Wiesci Polickie (news from the town of Police). In February 2001, he published an article alleging that a local municipal employee, who privately ran an advertising agency, had a conflict of interest in which he profited from his position to obtain business for his agency. In November 2002, Marek was found guilty of defamation. Upon appeal in November 2

Heavy selling in internet firm livedoor sparked a sharp selloff in Japanese stocks Wednesday. The exchange had to shorten the trading session as the number of transactions threatened to exceed the system capacity. The Tokyo stock exchange has a capacity to handle 4.5 million trades per day. Wednesday's trading problems have added to recent woes with the trading system at the exchange. A glitch halted trading for almost a full day late last year. Tokyo stock exchange plans to offer its own shares for listing. Prosecutors raided the Tokyo offic

At least eight people have died in a fire in a multi-storied office center, namely, in the office belonging to the Russian Savings Bank (Sberbank), in the Russian Pacific port city of Vladivostok, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said Monday. A spokesman said that the blaze broke at about 12:00 local time (02:00 UTC) on the sixth floor of the building. Some of the victims died when they jumped out windows in an attempt to escape the flames. In addition to the fatalities, another 15 people were hospitalized with burns and injuries. A

Augustine Volcano in Alaska erupted five times on January 13. Friday's activity follows two eruptions on January 11. The Alaska Volcano Observatory predicts the increased activity at Augustine Volcano will continue for several days, possibly for two to three weeks. The volcano last erupted in 1986 and 1976. The AVO expects the current activity to be similar to those two eruptions. The eruptions have prompted Alaska Airlines to cancel 28 flights into and out of the Alaskan cities of Anchorage, Juneau, Kodiak, and Fairbanks. Ash from the erupti

President George W. Bush made a stop over in two of the worst hit cities by Hurricane Katrina today. His stops included New Orleans, Louisiana, and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The president made small speeches in both cities, with references to the many problems that still exist due to a lack of housing, the slow pace of Small Business Administration Loans, problems with homeowners insurance payments and the urgent need for bridge rebuilding. "People in faraway places like Washington, D.C., still hear you and care about you," Bush said stand

Whole Foods Market, a natural food grocery chain based in Austin, Texas, announced that it intends to use wind energy for all of its electrical needs. This will make the company the largest business to use renewable energy in the United States. "It's a sales driver rather than a cost," Michael Besancon, a regional president for the company, said. "All of those things we do related to our core values: help drive sales, help convince a customer to drive past three or four other supermarkets on the way to Whole Foods." Since utility companies s

A school bus overturned Tuesday morning in Charlotte, North Carolina causing minor injuries to two children and two adults. The driver reportedly swerved to avoid a log in the road. The bus rolled down an embankment and came to rest on its roof. The children on the bus were 3 and 4 year-olds from the Bethlehem Center Head Start program. The bus was carrying 18 children, all strapped into safety seats in accordance with North Carolina law. The uninjured were transferred to a second bus and taken to school.