SOUTH AFRICA

Yahoo Inc said it signed British soccer star David Beckham as a brand ambassador ahead of the World Cup tournament in a move to draw more users to the online media company's products.

They can call their wives and families back home but German players have no way of reaching team mates with their fancy new cell phones issued for the World Cup in South Africa, players said on Tuesday.

Employers in most economies are more likely to add workers than three months ago, including those in the United States, but big gains are limited to booming emerging economies like Brazil, India and China, according to a quarterly survey by Manpower Inc .

British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh said Monday he was absolutely determined in its dispute with cabin crew and dismissed union suggestions that he had neglected the crisis to travel abroad.

New York gold climbed overnight after equity markets dropped though the euro also tumbled to a four year low. Gold for August delivery added $7.70, or 0.6%, to $1,217.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The comeback assured gold a 0.3% gain on the shortened holiday week and stopped a downward trend that had started Wednesday.

Leading policymakers spoke with unusual frankness on Friday of their fears that the euro zone's financial and banking woes could derail the global economic recovery.

Leading policymakers were unusually candid on Friday in voicing fears that the euro zone's financial and banking woes could derail the global economic recovery.

Leading policymakers expressed concern on Friday about the health of the world economy even as they closed ranks behind the euro zone's efforts to tackle a debt crisis that has rattled global markets.

World's largest gold refiner, South Africa's Rand Refinery said production of country's Krugerrand gold coins soared by 50 percent in a week as the euro zone debt crisis drove up investor demand. In a statement issued here, Rand Refinery said production of the world's most popular gold coin rose to 30 000 ounces a week.

Talks between British Airways Plc and officials from the Unite trade union were adjourned on Tuesday with no agreement reached to resolve a dispute with cabin crew staging the latest in a series of strikes.

British Airways Plc and officials from the Unite trade union plan were holding talks on Tuesday to try to resolve a dispute with cabin crew staging the latest in a series of strikes.

British Airways Plc and officials from the Unite trade union plan further talks later on Tuesday to try to resolve a dispute with cabin crew staging the latest in a series of strikes.

British Airways could face even more strike disruption this summer unless it resolves a dispute with cabin crew over travel perks, the co-leader of Britain's biggest union Unite said on Monday.

Members of a British Airways cabin crew union began a second five-day strike on Sunday after talks held last week aimed at resolving the long-running dispute ended without agreement. The new wave of industrial action by the airline's cabin staff started officially at midnight (7 p.m. EDT) with little sign on the horizon of a breakthrough in the increasingly bitter row.

The world's top countries face more wrangling over a global bank tax next week and crunch time over beefing up capital and cutting risks at big banks.

Global platinum production is set to face some crisis in the coming month as the world watches one of the biggest sports festivals in the world, the FIFA World Cup Soccer. It is strange that a sports event will help lift the prices of precious metals in the global markets. But this is not the first time sports events helped lift the prices of commodities. During the Beijing Olympics, several commodities witnessed a surge due to the increased demand from China for construction and other purposes....

After raiding iron ore mines across the world to make investments, China is now scouting for platinum producers in South Africa. Recently, China has decided to pump in $877 million into South Africa's platinum sector. In a deal backed by the China-Africa Development Bank, Chinese state-owned mining firm Jinchuan will acquire a 51 per cent stake in the small platinum developer and develop its Frischgewaagd-Ledig mine.

Josephine Jimenez has a chunk of money to invest and she is hunting for opportunities in the usual places -- Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Sri Lanka, among others. Jimenez is a specialist in so-called frontier markets. She stacked up a million air miles long ago.

(Reuters) - Health ministers on Thursday agreed to try to curb binge drinking and other growing forms of excessive alcohol use through higher taxes on alcoholic drinks and tighter marketing regulations.

United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation said global wheat crop is to fall by more than 7 million tonnes this year as poor prices turn farmers off the grain. The global wheat harvest will come in at 675m tonnes this year, below last year's level and the record 683.8m tonnes set in 2008, FAO said in a report.

Platinum and palladium markets received some good news this week with the auto sales zooming in India and China. Platinum and palladium, two metals used in the high end car exhausts to cut pollution, prices depend mostly on the auto sales across the globe. With India and China reporting huge car sales in April, the prices of platinum and palladium are set to gain from this news.