Munich RE to buy AIG's HSB unit

Reinsurer Munich RE in a starkling revelation has said that it would buy Hartford Steam Boliler from its embattled parent company, American International Group for a price of 742 million dollars.The purchase s being considered as well below the HSB's value, estimated at between 1 billion and 2 billion by the Financial Times, as AIG is forced to sell the units to pay back a U.S governmenr bailout loan.

Cairn announces new oil find

In a significant development, Cairn India has announced that it had made an oil and natural gas discovery adjacent to the Raageshwari oilfield in its Rajasthan block. Raageshwari East announced that about 10 metres of net oil pay and 1.4 metres of gas pay. This comes as a good boost to the company which is still in the look for more oil fields.

Forex reserves drop by $1.82 bn to $245.85 bn

India's foreign exchange reserves declined by $ 1.829 billion to $ 245.857 billion during the week ended December 5.Reserves had risen to $ 247.686 billion during the previous week after falling for several weeks. Foreign currency assets (FCAs) decreased by $ 1.82 billion to $ 237.148 billion from $ 238.968 billion a week ago.The FCAs expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies such as Euro, Sterling and Yen held in reserves.The gold reserves and the special drawing rights remained unchanged at
$ 7.861 billion and 3 million, respectively.

Thain seeking 2008 bonus of $10 million

Merrill Lynch & Co Chief Executive John Thain has suggested to directors that he get a 2008 bonus of as much as $10 million, but the battered company's compensation committee is resisting his request of such a kind and from the information got from the company is said that they are not in a state to accept his request.Thain, who became Merrill's chief executive after losses in mortgage-related investments led to the October 2007 ouster of Stanley O'Neal, has also run NYSE Euronext, after a long career at Goldman.

Metal prices fall further

The prices of the key industrial metals have fallen in the last four months than the period during the " Great Depression ". The average fall in the prices of the metals like copper,lead and zinc have been nearly 60pc from last July. Prices for the three metals fell 40pc from their highs in 1929 before touching bottom in 1933, with the bulk of the fall in 1930 as the slump spread worldwide. Copper was the hardest hit during the recession and now itself there are speculations that this crisis will be worser than the " Great Depression "

GM reviews new plan for bailout

The board of General Motors Corp met on Sunday to review a restructuring plan intended to cut costs and win support for up to $12 billion in emergency funding from the government, a person familiar with the deliberations said.Along with rivals Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC, GM is rushing to complete the business plans demanded by Congress as a condition of considering a $25-billion rescue package for the embattled industry.

ONGC strikes oil in Krishna-Godavari Basin

State-owned oil giant, ONGC has struck oil in nomination block-IG at a water depth of 225 metres in well G-4-6, 15 kms off Yanam coast, Andhra Pradesh, the well is still under drilling and the discovery has been notified to the Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons.The three-hydrocarbon bearing sands have been encountered in a gross interval of 3757m to 4185m based on geogical data, log evaluation and the one mini-Drill Stem Test. The thickest sand interval (4108 - 4185 m) comprises 55 metres of net oil pay.

JLR in talks with Govt for loan

Luxury car marque Jaguar Land Rover is in secret talks with the Government for a one billion-pound loan just nine months after the Tatas, the Indian conglomerate, bought the luxury car marque, and an answer to the request would be made in the next fortnight.The economic downturn has hit the auto industry hard and at present a number of large British-based industrial groups are also considering asking the government for financial support. Last year Land Rover produced 2,30,000 vehicles, while Jaguar made 54,000

Dubai eyes palm extravaganza, despite financial woe

The world may be tightening its belt but mere money woes have failed to thwart the star-studded grand opening of Dubai's Atlantis hotel on a palm-shaped island visible from space.The launch of the $1.5 billion mega resort on Thursday will feature red carpet appearances by a who's who of A-list stars from Oprah Winfrey to Charlize Theron, under a sky exploding with what promises to be the world's largest fireworks display.Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates, the world's fifth largest oil-exporter, kicked off a regional real estate boom when it opened the sector to private investment in 2002.

Japan slides into recession

Recession is back in Japan after a seven-year hiatus, and fingers this time are pointing outside the country as the latest global boom quickly deteriorates into bust. The economy contracted at an annual pace of 0.4% in the July-September period after falling an annualized 3.7% in the second quarter. That means Japan, along with the 15-nation euro-zone, is now technically in a recession, commonly defined as two straight quarters of contraction.

US govt buys $159bn worth shares

The US government, under its USD 700-billion bailout plan, has purchased shares in 30 American banks for a total of over USD 150 billion, half of which have gone into Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.According to the latest report of the Capital Purchase Program, the US Treasury Department has purchased preferred stocks worth USD 25 billion each in Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo - three of the biggest banks hit by the worsening financial turmoil.The government spent USD 158.56 billion for purchasing shares in the 30 banks, which included Bank of America getting USD 15 billion, while Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch got USD 10 billion each.

Spain-Algeria pipeline nears completion

Work on an undersea gas pipeline between Spain and Algeria edged closer to completion after Algeria's energy ministry announced Monday the end of vital installation work .Italian oil company Saipem had finished underwater installation work on an Algerian-controlled offshore section of the Medgaz pipeline.The pipeline is scheduled to be completed in 2009, when it will carry Algerian gas into southern Spain.Medgaz is a consortium of Algerian state-owned gas giant Sonatrach, Spanish companies Endesa, Cepsa and Iberdrola and France's GDF Suez.The 900-million-euro (11.5-million-dollar) pipeline runs for 1,050 kilometres (630-miles) of which 550 kilometres are under the Mediterranean sea.

Mukesh plans big for real estates

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance group is planning a splash in the real estate business, for which it has initiated a process of recruiting large number of professionals to work on its captive as well as independent business projects. Reliance group is trying to cash in to the latest boom which is going on in the country with a lot of opportunities for a profit based business.

BMW profits slump

The financial crisis and looming recession has taken its toll on BMW, which today reported a 63.5% slump in third-quarter pre-tax profits to €279m (£224m).The German premium car maker also hinted it would make a loss in the current quarter as consumers rein back spending and credit freezes.It is the latest European car manufacturer to spell out the impact of financial crisis which is looming large all over the world.

Gold's biggest fall in 25 years

Gold prices dropped 2percent on Friday, concluding their worst month in a quarter
century as a strong dollar and recession fears drove investors into less volatile assets. The key driver for gold at the moment is the U.S. dollar and it looks like it is going to strengthen again and that is definitely negative for gold. But the belief is that after some days of recession the gold prices too will stabilize.

BP profits soar

Oil giant BP has reaped the benefits of this summer's record oil prices, smashing all forecasts with a 148% rise in third-quarter profits.The shares rose 24.25p to 461.5p today, a gain of 5.55%.BP, Europe's second-biggest oil producer behind Royal Dutch Shell, posted replacement cost profits of $10bn (£6bn) for the quarter from July to September, up from $4bn a year earlier.

Aviva takes £600m market turmoil hit

Turmoil on world stockmarkets has wiped £600m off the surplus capital of life and pensions company Aviva in less than a month.The group, which owns the Norwich Union brand, has seen its cushion of extra assets fall from £1.9bn on September 30 to £1.3bn on October 24 because of plunging share prices. Aviva said a further 20% fall in share prices would knock another £350m off its buffer, but claimed its capital position was strong.

Oil at 17-month low

Crude oil prices fell Tuesday after a report showed a decline in consumers' gasoline use last week, fanning fears of a drop in demand.U.S. crude for December delivery ended the day down 49 cents to $62.73 a barrel. The close was the lowest since oil settled at $62.55 on May 16, 2007.Concern about falling demand has driven oil down more than 57% from a record high of $147.27 in July. Retail gas prices averaged $2.629 a gallon overnight.

Gold retail sales touches 50 tonne this month

The All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) has announced a growth of 66% in sales of gold for the period from October 1 to October 20 as compared to the same period last year. Sales reached 50 tonne during the period, aided by sales promotions organised by retailers across 217 cities.The Lucky Lakshmi festival, which is the world’s largest jewellery festival, has been instrumental in the growth of gold sales this year.

Victoria’s Secret 2008 Black Diamond Fantasy Bra

Supermodel Adriana Lima models Victoria’s Secret 2008 Black Diamond Fantasy Bra. The Fantasy Bra is encrusted with 3,900 precious gems, including thousands of tiny black diamonds, 117 one carat round diamonds, and 34 rubies. With all those diamonds you can’t expect it to be anywhere near cheap, the bra is worth $5 Million.

Porsche family feud ends.

Porsche family feud ends ahead of the VW takeover which is going to happen in few weeks to come. According to the company that it had reconciled with the family members in the company after weeks of tension over the preparations to take over the biggest European carmaker, Volkswagen.

OPEC to cut output

Aiming the stem the decline in global oil prices the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has decided to slash its daily output by 1.5 million barrels. The decision was taken in the meeting of OPEC in vienna on friday. OPEC meets nearly 40% of the world's daily demand of 87 million barrels. It is estimated that Saudi Arabia wil lower its daily output by 4,66,000 barrels, the highest among the OPEC members.

Frenetic measures fail to stop the losses

Markets aronud the world has taken a free in the past few days.The U.S market had their worst week since the Great Depression of the 1930's.A slew of measures announced in several countries including in India has not checked the panic in financial sector. The U.S government finally suceeded in getting its $700 billion package through the Congress and the U.K government announced a 50 billion pound package.

Palins’ Assets Top $1 Million

The McCain campaign released financial documents on Friday indicating that Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska had assets over $1 million, consisting largely of an ample retirement portfolio, real estate and her husband’s commercial fishing business.Ms. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, kept her tax rate low by putting all of her investments in tax-deferred accounts. In addition, she did not report as income the $17,000 that she received in per diem payments from the state while she remained at her home in Wasilla.

Tax returns for 2007 and 2006 show that Ms. Palin and her husband, Todd, had diverse sources of income. In addition to her salary as governor, there were capital gains from the sale of a snowmobile and income from Mr. Palin’s winnings in the annual Iron Dog snow-machine race.

One of the most disputed aspects of Ms. Palin’s tax returns, which were prepared by H&R Block, is the tax treatment of the per diem payments. The McCain campaign has said that these payments are not taxable income, a position that has been questioned by tax experts.

US to sign $6bn Taiwan arms deal

The US plans to sell $6.5bn in weapons to Taiwan as part of a long-awaited package intended to boost the island’s ability to defend itself.This includes Patriot missiles, Apache helicopters, submarine-launched Harpoon missiles, Javelin anti-tank missiles and spare parts for F-16 fighter jets.The package does not include Blackhawk helicopters or money to study the possibility of acquiring diesel submarines.