POLITICS

British Petroleum's shutdown of the largest United States oil field has could cause California gas prices to rise.

The world can cope for now with the loss of about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Alaska and Nigeria, but the pressure is on exporter group OPEC to fill the gap, the International Energy Agency said on Friday.

Gone are the days when companies promised flashy cars and gourmet meals to attract and keep top employees. These days, practical tools for balancing work and life are the best reward, according to new research.

Tokyo residents have the highest purchasing power in the world, overriding residents in Los Angeles, London, New York and Sydney, according to a new survey released on Wednesday by Swiss banking giant UBS.

Nigeria is set to receive a $2.5-billion loan from the US Federal Government to assist government plans to rehabilitate and modernize the country's dilapidated railway system, President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Wednesday.

Cocoa pods are swelling on the trees as Ivory Coast nears the start of another lucrative crop, but farmer Drissa Zoungrana feels only despair.

The U.S. economy will grow at a sluggish pace for the remainder of this year and into 2007 as the worst of inflationary pressure is yet to come, a survey of top forecasters showed on Thursday.

When Chinese investors bought struggling copper producer Chambishi Mining Plc, miners in this Zambian town gave them a heroes' welcome for averting its closure and for creating more jobs.

U.S. mortgage applications rose for the first time in four weeks as long-term home loan interest rates plunged to their lowest levels since March, data from the industry's main trade group showed on Wednesday.

Resource Company BHP Billiton said on Tuesday it foresees great potential for a large discovery of diamonds in Angola as well as forming a partnership with the government.

India's trade minister said on Tuesday that wealthy countries need to be more flexible on agricultural subsidies if global trade talks are to re-commence following the failed WTO talks in Geneva late last month.

U.S. business productivity rose at a 1.1 percent annual rate in the second quarter but unit labor costs jumped sharply, according to a government report that gave the Federal Reserve a final piece of inflationary data as a pivotal meeting started on Tuesday.

Indonesia is open for foreign investment and anticipates a swift implementation of the Special Economic Zone in June, said Indonesia's president.

Zimbabwe is preparing to implement strong trade measures in efforts to liberalize its common trade market by 2008, said its Minister of Finance, Dr. Herbert Murerwa on Friday.

Energy and ambition is what World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz says he felt during a recent eight nation tour of Africa which ended late last month.

The Bank of Japan, which last month raised interest rates for the first time in six years, is expected to keep its powder dry this week as it confirms that economic growth is slowing and with inflation yet to materialize.

Legislation approved by Congress could help undermine the future of traditional pensions if companies balk at tougher rules for maintaining them, financial and other experts say.

A consortium led by AMD launched their Personal Internet Computing (PIC) device on Friday in schools in Uganda in accordance with the group's 50X15 Initiative, which plans to bring Internet access to 50 percent of the world's population by 2015.

A recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that investment in African mining exploration in 2005 had amounted to $5.1-billion which is equivalent to around 17 percent of all global exploration.

Nigeria's government must open up talks with community leaders and double the amount of oil revenues the country provides to its 46 states in order to end militant attacks in its delta region, according to a report.

Japan has decided to protect Japanese beef as its intellectual property by patenting the Japanese cow genes and monitoring semen stock distribution with bar-codes. The agriculture ministry says that it found there is no international law to prohibit the stock from flowing out to foreign countries for hybridization and reverse import.

Delays in expanding Richards Bay Coal Terminal to become the biggest coal exporter worldwide have put South Africa's economy at a loss, Kumba Resources CEO Dr. Con Fauconnier said on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe's central bank has announced that three zeroes will be removed from every bank note in an attempt to help consumers deal with hyperinflation of almost 1,200 percent.

Business activity in the U.S. services sector in July and new orders at U.S. factories in June were surprisingly weak, two reports showed on Thursday, signaling that economic growth was decelerating.

U.S. employers added a smaller-than-expected 113,000 new jobs in July and the unemployment rate jumped unexpectedly to 4.8 percent, Labor Department data showed on Friday.

Hiring slowed in July as employers added just 113,000 new jobs, propelling the unemployment rate to a five-month high of 4.8 percent and providing fresh evidence that companies are growing cautious amid high energy prices. Wages grew solidly.

Africa's trade with China has grown considerably with exports rising by 72 percent in 2005. The figure surpassed exports to Europe which only amounted to 30 percent, said Standard Chartered Bank on Wednesday.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has resigned only days after being replaced as head of the country's economic reform team, the government reported on Thursday.

South Africa's Reserve Bank Governor, Tito Mboweni, said the country can maintain its growth rate. However he added that price stability would not be without its challenges.