Business

Swiss banking giant UBS today reported better than expected first-quarter results - but warned investors that full year results could be hit by weaker investment banking revenues. First-quarter net profit stood at 2.625bn Swiss francs (US$2.19bn; €1.7bn) up 15% from last year's 2.28bn Swiss francs. Assets under management grew to 2.36 trillion Swiss francs (US$1.97 trillion; €1.53 trillion); an increase of 21.2bn Swiss francs on last year. Despite the solid performance, CFO Clive Standish told the media "Clearly we have seen a slowing of the

The BBC announced today that it plans to expand the license terms on its numerous RSS feeds to allow other websites to reuse its content. The license currently proscribes that the feeds are only for "personal use," according to BBC editor Peter Clifton. According to Clifton's statement, "in May we'll be happy for outside websites to dip in and take our headlines." The announcement did not specify whether the new license would allow the use of entire articles, or just the headlines. The BBC currently has 18 feeds, ranging in topic from Business

Two branches of Romanian electricity distributor Electrica SA were privatised on Thursday, after Italian power producer Enel bought 51% of the shares in the Electrica Banat and Electrica Dobrogea branches of the previously fully-state-owned company. The transaction had a value of 112 million euro, which included the acquisition of stocks and the increase in social capital of the two branches. The privatisation ceremony was attended by Codruţ Sereş, the Romanian Minister of Economy and Commerce, as well as Claudio Scazola, the Italian Minister

Shiv Sagar, the grandson of a popular Indian TV and movie producer, is planning to build an infotainment theme park called Ganga-Dham on the banks of the Ganges River within the next two or three years. The project is expected to cost $6.4 million and one of the main investors is Alice Coltrane, wife of jazz great John Coltrane. The family theme park, called "Disneyland on the Ganges" by the BBC News article, could probably be better compared to Disney's Epcot, since both feature an educational, interactive multimedia experience. Billed as t

German supermarket chain Metro Cash and Carry will open a new supermarket in Arad, western Romania. According to Arad's vice-mayor, Tiberiu Dekany, the building authorisation process is currently underway, with Metro already acquiring a building lot, with an area of 100,000 m², on the outskirts of Arad, where the cash-and-carry store will be built. Metro is hoping to open the supermarket before the end of the year, and Dekany has said that the City Hall will give the building authorisations as soon as possible in order to let Metro meet that go

The first thing to catch my eye when I approached what used to be a Texeco gas station, was a guy up in a man-lift beside the pump price sign. Seeing heavy equipment being used to change what I thought were the gas prices, I thought, "Gawds, these prices are getting out of hand!" After stopping in later and talking with the owner, I was impressed by how elated he was on the subject of bank processing fees. This was news to me. So I reported it. The man-lift I saw earlier is absent from the photograph I took. They had used the lift to change t

The British Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced a recall of foods containing banned dyes which increase the risk of cancer. The food products were sold at the Tesco, Waitrose, and Somerfield supermarkets. A Bristol company called "Barts Spices" found the illegal Para Red substance in their Barts Ground Paprika, which was sold in 48g and 46g jars with a "Co-op" label. The batch codes on the affected products are 5032 and 5089 (expiration Dec 2007), and 5075 (expiration February 2007). Tesco also found that their 130g package of BBQ rice

The Romanian Ministry of Economy and Commerce, in partnership with the Ministry of Public Finance, have approved a package giving 115 million euro state assistance to the mining industry. This will involve the exemption of 11 state-owned mining companies from financial obligations, of contributing to the state budget, worth 115 million euro. The largest tax exemptions were awarded to the Oltenia National Lignite Company, with 47.4 million euro and to the National Coal Company in Petroşani (38.3 million euro). The exemption took effect on April

Hospital officials reported Tuesday that two women were killed by a bomb blast at a market in Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar. The city is located about 430 miles north of the capital Yangon. Police officials confirmed a bomb explosion at the Zay Cho market, yet the military-government of Myanmar did not provide any details about the incident. A doctor said one of the women died at the market and the other died in the hospital. 16 other people were wounded and taken to the hospital. Reports indicate there was a single explosion a

A Midland, Michigan, USA newspaper office was shut down briefly due a suspicious letter with white powder. When the envelope was opened at the Midland Daily News offices around 17:00 GMT Tuesday, the presence of powder aroused alarm the envelope might contain the deadly disease anthrax. The news office, along with restaurants and businesses near the downtown newspaper were quarantined as a safety precaution shortly after authorities were alerted. On-site tests found no evidence of anthrax, and the letter has been sent to Lansing for additional

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke live on state television Monday in his annual state-of-the-nation address using high ideological rhetoric when calling on lawmakers and the public to strengthen democracy and the rule of law. His 50 minute address from the Kremlin's Marble Hall only briefly touched on the "epidemic of collapse" , a reference to upheavals in Chechnya, Kyrgyzstan and the Ukraine, which was "a real drama" stranding millions of Russians beyond the borders of the Russian Federation. Brushing off what was probably taken as crit

__NOTOC__ New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced last Wednesday that it has agreed definitively to merge with Chicago-based Archipelago Exchange (ArcaEx) and form a new publicly traded, for-profit company known as NYSE Group. This announcement was followed two days later by NASDAQ, which independently announced a definitive agreement to purchase Instinet Group. Archipelago and Instinet are innovative e-trading (electronic trading) companies, and formerly were the two largest American rivals to NYSE and NASDAQ, in recent years taking increa