iWatch to debut alongside iPhone 6 on September 9

Apple will unveil its long rumoured iWatch next to the iPhone 6 on September 9, according to those closely following the product’s development.

According to John Paczkowski, Apple is indeed planning to announce its first wearable on September 9. That’s the date the firm has supposedly set aside for a media event for its next-gen iPhones, too.

Paczkowski refers to the device as “a new wearable,” so perhaps Apple is really planning on showing off the iSock … we kid. So here’s what to look forward to for September 9: Two new iPhones (a 4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6) and the iWatch.

The 10 most expensive EPL signings ever

Following Manchester United’s British record transfer for Real Madrid superstar Angel di Maria, the top ten most expensive Premier League signings list has a new frontrunner!

The trend of paying immense transfer fees will not seem to change anytime soon even though FIFA has already taken a measure, through the Financial Fair Play rule, to somehow regulate such indiscretions and level the playing field.

In any case, huge sums of money used to acquire players shows strength and more importantly, ambition, to clubs, which will definitely produce a direct positive effect to respective supporters, who in turn are one of the major sources of profits.

Signings from Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool feature in this epic list.

Mega deals for players such as Rio Ferdinand, Andriy Shevchenko and Wayne Rooney no longer even make the top 10, such is the enormity of the transfer deals in recent seasons.

Here are the ten most expensive signings of one of Europe’s biggest

Man United tops list of most expensive squads in EPL

Man United tops list of most expensive squad Manchester United have the most expensive squad ever assembled in the Premier League after Argentina winger Angel Di Maria’s arrival pushed their combined value over the £400m mark. The Red Devils are currently the Premier League’s most expensive squad ever assembled in the English game.

The arrival of Angel Di Maria this week takes the combined transfer fees of the United squad to an eye-watering £401.2million – and that figure could grow with new signings before the transfer window closes.

Di Maria’s move from Real Madrid for approximately £60m has seen United overtake rivals Manchester City, whose squad was built for a combined £344.15m. United have also signed Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera and Marcos Rojo to boost the strength of the squad.

London side, Chelsea squad put together for £341.8m, Liverpool £245.8m and Arsenal £209.5m

UK businesses 'want new EU deal', says lobby group

Most British businesses want the UK to renegotiate its relationship with the EU, according to a British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) survey.

The lobby group said 60% of the 3,200 firms polled believed bringing some powers home would help the UK economy.

However, most wanted to stay in the EU - with a majority saying leaving would damage UK business prospects.

The European Council's new president has pledged to reach a deal with the UK on EU reform.

Donald Tusk said he would "take on the concerns voiced by the UK"

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who was

Worried EU leaders call jobs, growth summit for October 7

European Union leaders are set to hold an emergency summit on promoting growth and jobs on Oct. 7 at the suggestion of Italy, according to a draft of a statement to be issued after an EU summit on Saturday.

Previous drafts before weak euro zone economic data in the past few days made no mention of the economic situation. In contrast the latest document read:

India's economic growth hits two year high

India's economy grew by 5.7% in the three months to June, its fastest pace in two-and-a-half years, according to an official estimate.

The economy was helped by strong growth in electricity, gas and water supply, and financial services, the Ministry of Statistics said.

The growth figure was higher than analysts had been expecting.

India's new government has launched policies designed to encourage business investment, including changes to tax.

Ever since the Narendra Modi government took charge, business sentiment has

WFP needs $70m to feed 1.3 million people in Ebola quarantine

The World Food Programme (WFP) needs to raise $70 million to feed 1.3 million people at risk from shortages in Ebola-quarantined areas in West Africa, with the agency’s resources already stretched by several major humanitarian crises, its regional director said.

WFP’s West Africa Director Denise Brown said the organisation was currently providing food for around 150,000 people in Ebola-striken nations but needed to rapidly scale that up as the worst ever epidemic of the virus advanced.

Senegal on Friday became the fifth country to confirm it had been touched by the outbreak that has infected more than 3,000 people – killing some 1,550 of them – since it was detected in March. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday the outbreak could infect a total of

Nigeria 2024 bond yield eases on JP Morgan index inclusion

Yields on Nigeria’s 2024 bond shed 15 basis points to 11.89 percent on Friday, after JP Morgan added it to its Government Bond Index-Emerging Market (GBI-EM), attracting offshore funds, dealers said.

The 10-year benchmark bond opened for trade at 12.04 percent.

Last week JP Morgan said it add Nigeria’s 2024 bond to its emerging market government bond index, in addition to five other bonds already listed, pushing its yield down 22 bps.

Since then, some investors have

Russian rouble falls to new low on sanctions threat

The Russian rouble fell to a record low against the dollar as investors fear further sanctions against the nation.

The rouble fell to 37.03 per dollar on Friday, its worst valuation since the currency was restructured in 1998.

The tumble comes weeks after Russia's central bank pledged to intervene less in the currency's valuation.

It also follows peace talks in Minsk between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Minsk.

The market may have found the talks "disappointing" and renewed its concern over sanctions, said Manik Narain, emerging market strategist at UBS.

A recent weak economic performance and the conflict with Ukraine have combined with

Brazil's economy falls into recession, latest figures show

Brazil has fallen into recession, just a month before the general election, latest figures show.

Economic output, GDP, fell by 0.6% in the three months to June, worse than analysts had predicted, and revised figures for the first quarter of the year also showed a fall of 0.2%.

A recession is usually defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.

The news will be damaging for the government of President Dilma Rousseff.

According to the most recent poll, Ms Rousseff would lose to a rival candidate, environmentalist Marina Silva, if October's election went to a second round.

The World Cup, held in June and July, was not regarded as generally good for business, says the BBC's Wyre Davies in Rio de Janeiro.

"There were more days off for employees

FG and Brazil build N144b power plant in Bayelsa

The Federal Government and Benco Energy Limited of Brazil yesterday signed a N144 billion Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, to construct a 700 megawatts power plant in Nigeria.

The President of Benco Energy Limited, Brazil, Mr. Rodrigo Badew, said at the MoU signing ceremony that the plant which will be gas and vapour fired will be built in Bayelsa State.

He added that the plant will have a construction period of three years.

According to him, “it is a 700MW plant although it can reduce to 688MW because this depends on location and environmental conditions. The investment is around $800 to $900m.

“Of course all these will be confirmed as soon as we have all the necessary investigations and have them more defined. The time schedule is supposed to be around three years to three and half years for the construction of the project.

“The location is Bayelsa because it is a terrain which is close to

Nigeria records over $3billion worth of investments in sugar subsection – Aganga

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, yesterday, disclosed that Nigeria had recorded over $3billion worth of investments in the sugar subsection since the implementation of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, NIRP.

He said more than 15 projects had already been situated in seven states of the federation in furtherance of the Sugar Master Plan of the federal government.

The Minister made this known, yesterday in a keynote address he delivered at the opening ceremony of the 7th. National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment (NCITI) in Makurdi.

Represented by the Minister of State in the Ministry, Dr. Samuel Ortom, he said,

Google tests drone deliveries in Project Wing trials

Google has built and tested autonomous aerial vehicles, which it believes could be used for goods deliveries.

The project is being developed at Google X, the company's clandestine tech research arm, which is also responsible for its self-driving car.

Project Wing has been running for two years, but was a secret until now.

Google said that its long-term goal was to develop drones that could be used for disaster relief by delivering aid to isolated areas.

They could be used after earthquakes, floods, or extreme weather events, the company suggested, to take small items such as medicines or batteries to people in areas that conventional vehicles cannot reach.

"Even just a few of these, being able to shuttle nearly continuously could service a very

Malaysia Airlines to cut 6,000 staff after disasters

Malaysia Airlines is to cut 6,000 staff as part of recovery plan after being hit by two disasters this year.

The reduction in staff numbers represents around 30% of its workforce of 20,000.

The airline will become completely state owned, and a new chief executive will eventually be put in place.

Investigators continue to hunt for flight MH370, the Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight which went missing in March.

The MH17 air crash in eastern Ukraine is also under investigation. The plane was shot down on 17 July, with the loss of all 298 people on board.

The recovery plan will cost about 6 billion Malaysian ringgit (£1.1bn, $1.9bn).

Khazanah Nasional, the state investment company that owns a 69% stake in the troubled firm, will take 100% ownership.

"The combination of measures announced today will enable our national airline to be revived," said Khazanah's managing director Azman Mokhtar.

"Success is by no means guaranteed - while it is imperative that

FG targets N116.5bn non oil export to ECOWAS countries

Nigeria is targeting a quantum increase of its non oil exports to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to N116.5 billion by 2015 in addition to a structured trade policy that would support the nation’s industrial trade, Olusegun Aganga, the minister of industry, trade and investment, has said.

Aganga spoke during the 7th National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment in Markurdi, Benue State on Thursday.

The event brought together all the commissioners of industry, trade and investment across the country to deliberate on strategies to fast track inclusive economic growth through industrialisation, trade and investment.

As part of efforts towards increasing the country’s non oil export sector, the minister said

Eurozone inflation rate nears five-year low

The eurozone inflation rate has fallen to 0.3% in August, near a five-year low, adding to fears of a deflationary spiral, according to Eurostat figures.

The drop, driven by lower food and energy prices, will add to pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB) to take action to stimulate the economy.

Separate figures showed the unemployment rate remained near a record high at 11.5% in July.

The ECB meets next Thursday to decide on interest rates.

Most analysts are not expecting any action yet, but speculation is growing that in the coming months it may inject money into the system, a practice called quantitative easing, in the hope of stimulating growth and pushing up prices.

Mario Draghi, head of the ECB, has previously described inflation at below 1% to be in a

Virgin Australia trebles its full year losses

Virgin Australia Holdings has posted an after-tax loss of A$355.6m ($332.6m; £200.5m) for the full year ending in June.

The result is more than triple the firm's previous year's loss of A$98.1m.

The carrier blamed weak consumer sentiment, overcapacity in the market and carbon tax costs for the loss.

Virgin also said on Friday that it would sell a 35% stake of its frequent flyer program to a private equity firm, valuing the program at A$960m.

The carrier, which is Australia's second largest behind Qantas, said ongoing uncertainty around the economy had also contributed to its full year loss and that it would

Tesco cuts its profit forecast

Struggling supermarket Tesco has cut its full-year profit forecast to £2.4bn from £2.8bn.

In a statement, it said the "challenging trading conditions and ongoing investment...continued to impact the expected financial performance of the Group".

The new start date for new chief executive Dave Lewis has been brought forward to Monday "in order to improve its competitive position".

The dividend has also been cut.

The company said it anticipated a

Growing gas demand drives push to exploit Nigeria’s inland basins

With domestic gas demand expected to further increase, as more power plants are set to come on stream to bridge power supply deficits, Nigeria needs to look beyond the Gas Master Plan and explore its inland basins to meet its gas needs, industry experts have said.

The Nigerian Gas Master Plan (NGMP) which was approved in February 2008, was designed to optimise the vast gas resources in the country, but almost six years after, not much of the desired result has been achieved.

According to the experts, Nigeria boasts of huge gas resources in the inland basins, which are yet to be exploited. The inland basins comprise the Anambra basin, the lower, middle, and upper Benue trough, the southeastern sector of the Chad basin, the Mid-Niger (Bida) basin, and the Sokoto basin.

“We have multiple inland basins that have

Ecobank plans additional capital raising

Ecobank Nigeria may have begun plans to riase additional capital in order to boost its tier-1 capital. Vanguard gathered that the bank’s total capital adequacy ratio at the end of the first half of 2014 stood at 13.3 per cent.

The additional capital, according to capital market operator, will be a boost as the recent Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) draft guidelines categorised the bank as a systemically important bank.

According to Adesoji Solanke of Renaissance Capital, “Considering the Central Bank of Nigeria’ (CBN’s) preference for tier-1 capital for a bank of this scale, we think the subsidiary needs a tier-1 capital injection.”

The subsidiary of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) recently raised $250 million in tier-2 capital, thereby lifting its Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) to 16.5 per cent.

It was gathered that

Japan's economy signals stagnation and weakness

Japan's economy has shown signs of stagnation and some weakness as households spent less and factory output stayed flat in July.

Official data released on Friday also showed consumer inflation stayed unmoved at 3.3% from the month before.

Japan raised its sales tax from 5% to 8% in April so analysts said "real" inflation for July was actually 1.3%.

Japan's economy, which is the world's third-largest, suffered from deflation for almost two decades.

The central bank's current target for the inflation rate is 2%.

Sales tax

Since coming to power in 2012, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has seen his various reforms aimed at reviving the economy provide some relief to the country's deflation concerns.

Mr Abe's reforms, dubbed 'Abenomics', have been aimed at boosting inflation, among other targets, in the hope that consumers would spend instead of save.

An employee of Toyota Motor's subsidiary Toyota Motor Kyushu at the Kanda Plant in

Growth in Nigeria non-oil export hits US$2.970bn — NEPC

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, has disclosed that, Nigeria realised $2.970 billion from non-oil export, in 2013 a 15.9 per cent increase over $2.561 in 2012.

Disclosing this at the business meeting tagged” A New Dawn For Nigerian Export” organised by the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce, NBCC, the Executive Director/CEO, NEPC, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, said Nigeria’s export is dominated by oil, but that, there has been steady growth in Non-oil export to $2.970 billion in 2013, a 15.9 per cent increase over $2.561 in 2012.

He said that non-oil export potentials have not been fully exploited despite endowed natural resources solid minerals, agriculture, adding that, some of the challenges are poor infrastructure, energy, finance, skills and capacity.

According to him, the non-oil export challenges in Nigeria are

EU widens aid to dairy exporters hit by Russia food ban

The EU has announced emergency help for dairy producers hit by the Russian ban on food imports from the EU.

The move follows EU aid worth 125m euros (£100m; $170m) announced earlier for fruit and vegetable exporters.

The European Commission will help pay storage costs for butter and skimmed milk powder. EU aid will also extend to certain cheeses. Last year EU cheese sales to Russia were nearly 1bn euros.

Russia's actions in Ukraine triggered the trade dispute.

The biggest EU dairy exporters to Russia in 2013 were:

US economic growth revised upwards

The US economy grew at an annual rate of 4.2% in the second quarter of the year, according to revised figures from the US Department of Commerce.

The revision upwards from 4.0% reflected stronger business spending and exports.

It was the fastest pace of growth since the third quarter of 2013.

A separate report from the US Labor Department showed the number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell by 1,000 to 298,000 last week.

Economists polled had expected the pace of US growth to be revised down to

Malaysia Airlines warns of further losses

Malaysia Airlines has warned of further losses in the second half of the year because of the two tragedies to hit the airline in recent months.

In a statement it said it had seen "a sharp decline" in weekly bookings.

It comes as the airline reported a second quarter net loss of 307m Malaysian ringgit ($97.4m; £58.7m) for the three months to June.

The airline has been affected by the crash of flight MH17 in Ukraine and the disappearance of flight MH370.

"We expected the impact of MH370 on the performance in Quarter 2," said chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya.

"Given that, our team put in much hard work and effort to regain market confidence and rebuild sales. Tragically, just as we were beginning to see

India's Narendra Modi launches bank accounts for all

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a plan to provide a bank account for every household, in a landmark initiative to help the poor.

Nearly 40% of Indians have little access to financial services and are often at the mercy of moneylenders who charge extortionate interest.

Mr Modi has told state and private banks to support the plan.

Correspondents say taking banking to the poor, who may have no identity papers, will be a challenge.

Reports say Mr Modi's government aims to provide bank accounts to

Nigerian cocoa grower’s shipments halt over levy dispute

Cocoa shipments from Nigeria’s second-largest grower Cross Rivers halted this week after merchants and the state government disagreed over the payment of an export levy, the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN) said.

Godwin Ukwu, spokesman for the association, said on Wednesday about 600 tonnes of cocoa due for export had been delayed since Monday after the local government refused to issue certificates to enable buyers ship the beans.

The state government last Friday directed merchants to pay 20 naira ($0.1235) per bag of cocoa (320 naira per tonne) in a levy to an account it listed in a letter seen by Reuters, before they can could get export documents.

“Cocoa has not moved since Monday because they (the government) have refused to give us excavation papers,” Ukwu, whose association represents farmers, exporters and buyers, told Reuters by telephone.

“If we don’t shut down tomorrow the warehouses will be filled and it will be

Doctor dies of Ebola in Port Harcourt

Dan Nwomeh, a Ministry of Health spokesman, said Thursday that a doctor in Port Harcourt has died from Ebola fever.

The doctor was infected he treated a primary contact of Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American who brought the dreaded disease to Nigeria.

His death brings the number of Ebola fatalities in Nigeria to 6.

The total number of recorded cases had risen by two to 15, the other one being the wife of the doctor who is showing Ebola symptoms and whose test results are awaited.

Nwomeh said 70 contacts of the doctor were now under surveillance in Port Harcourt.

The news came two days after Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said

Deutsche Bank in mis-reporting fine

The London branch of Germany's Deutsche Bank has been fined £4.7m by UK regulators for inaccurate reporting.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the bank mis-reported 29m transactions between November 2007 and April 2013.

"There is simply no excuse for Deutsche's failure to get this right," said the FCA in a statement.

Deutsche Bank said it had undertaken a "complete review" of its reporting systems to rectify the problem.

The mis-reporting involved "contracts for difference" - a derivative that lets people bet on share price movements.

"We have repeatedly highlighted the importance of

Relief for ailing $600m ceramics industry as investors show interest

The wobbling ceramics industry valued at $600 million may be on the verge of resuscitation, as interest from the private sector picks up on the back of renewed enlightenment on the industry’s huge opportunities for growth and returns.

Gian Paolo Crasta, marketing and communication manager, Association of Italian Manufacturers of Machinery for Ceramics (AIMAC) is set to announce today (Thursday, August 28) plans by investors from Italy, to tap into the Nigerian tile sub-sector, while also providing the needed machineries for local businessmen who may be interested in the manufacture of the product. 

Also, the West African Ceramics Limited (WACL) has  recently announced interest to set up a $50 million ceramics plant (mainly tiles) at Agbara, Ogun State.

Similarly, over 100 individuals and private firms are currently

Qantas reports record annual loss

Australia's national flag carrier Qantas has reported a net loss of 2.8bn Australian dollars ($2.6bn; £1.6bn) for the year to June - its biggest ever annual loss.

The struggling airline said the result was in part due to an A$2.6bn write-down on its international fleet.

Analysts were expecting a net loss of around A$750m.

Qantas said weak domestic demand, poor consumer spending and rising fuel costs also contributed to the huge loss.

It is the worst result in the company's history and compares with a revised after-tax profit of A$2m a year earlier.

One-off costs associated with redundancies contributed to the full-year loss, though, and the firm said its current underlying financial position was strong and improving.

Qantas aircraft Qantas has been trying to

Nigeria’s in-bound air passenger traffic sustained on Ebola containment

Nigeria’s timely containment of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) which has attracted huge commendation from the international community, including the World Health Organisation (WHO) is paying off, as air passenger traffic into and also out of the country’s airports has been sustained, despite the outbreak of the disease in July.

The disease has however crippled air travel business in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, where a total of about 1,400 deaths have been recorded since the recent outbreak, leading to the cancellation of as much as 216 of the 590 monthly international flights scheduled to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Official Airline Guide (OAG), an airline data provider says.

However, with only five deaths recorded in Nigeria, including the late Patrick Sawyer (the index case) who imported the deadly disease into the country, analysts observe that

Nigeria faces surge in competition for oil investments from African peers

The development of new oilfields across Africa look set to bring competition to Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer.

The West African region has traditionally been an oil hotspot in the global market, given the presence of Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

The discovery of further oil and gas fields along the west coast looks set to bring competition over the next decade for the experienced players, as new producers come on board.

So promising are these prospects that analysts have begun to talk of a new oil province that hugs the coast of four countries: Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

With oil accounting for around 80 percent of government revenue and 95 percent of foreign exchange reserves, Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is vulnerable to

Total developing projects as Shell sales show IOCs views diverge

International Oil Companies (IOCs) playing in the Nigerian oil and gas space are showing divergent views on the attractiveness of assets as some are moving on with developments while others divest.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc , Europe’s largest oil company, said yesterday it is advancing plans to sell four fields in Nigeria, to meet a $15 billion asset-sales plan, even as French Oil major Total told BusinessDay that it was moving ahead with projects in the country, despite the uncertainty from the late passage of the PIB.

Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria Ltd. said assets under consideration for sale are OMLs 18, 24, 25, 29 and the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, although the process has not yet concluded.

The Anglo-Dutch company and partner, Eni SpA  are close to selling the Nigerian assets for about

After disasters, stricken Malaysia Airlines staff brace for job cuts

As bodies from downed Flight MH17 were brought home last week, a group of Malaysia Airlines (MASM.KL) flight attendants, in black mourning headscarves contrasting with their pink and turquoise uniforms, sobbed and clung to each other in grief.

The 19,500 staff of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) now face a new ordeal - a quarter of them may lose their jobs at the unprofitable airline, hit by two jet disasters this year. Flight MH370 remains untraced since its disappearance en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March.

Deep job losses, route cuts and a change of leadership are expected to feature in a restructuring plan being prepared by Malaysia's government for announcement as early as

Russian courts close three McDonald's branches in Moscow: agencies

Russian courts on Wednesday ordered the temporary closure of three McDonald's (MCD.N) restaurants in Moscow over breaches of sanitary rules, news agencies reported, amid a standoff with the West over Ukraine.

The restaurants on Moscow's Manezh square, under the walls of the Kremlin, at Pushkin Square and on Prospect Mira have been closed since last week following an order from state food safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor.

Rospotrebnadzor has so far ordered the temporary closure of a total of five McDonald's restaurants in Russia. Sweeping checks, including unscheduled inspections, have been

3rd int’l conference on gas, refining, petrochemicals holds in Port Harcourt

Participants drawn from the oil and gas industry, petrochemicals, fertiliser, the academia will gather today at the Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for the 3rd edition of the international conference on gas, refining and petrochemicals.

This time, the conference participants under the Institute of Petroleum Studies (IPS), University of Port Harcourt, would include experts from the US and UK, most of whom would todaypresent technical papers on the current trends in the gas, refining, petrochemicals and fertiliser industries.

According to Godwin J. Igwe, a professor of Chemical Engineering, with many decades of teaching experience at the prestigious Texas A&M University in Texas and a World Bank McNamara Fellow, USA, the conference would be exploring the

Snapchat valued at $10bn by Californian investment firm

The popular messaging app Snapchat has reportedly been valued at $10bn (£6bn) by one of Silicon Valley's most established investment firms.

The evaluation, detailed by the Wall Street Journal, puts the start-up in the same bracket as young tech titans Dropbox and AirBnB.

The newspaper also reported that Snapchat now has more than 100 million monthly users, approximately half of its rival Instagram.

Snapchat was founded in 2011.

The mobile app, which is the brainchild of

N66bn market opens as telcos explore green energy for power

Nigeria and other African countries’ telecommunication companies’ drive to explore renewable power solutions to drive their off-grid telecommunications masts could potentially create a N64 billion market to be tapped by third party Energy Service Companies (ESCOs), with requisite technical competence, BusinessDay investigations have shown.

Analysts say this could serve as a stop gap, pending when the dividends of the ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s electricity sector materialise, as energy is believed to be the largest cost item in developing markets, representing as much as 40-50 percent of total operating costs.

For instance, in 2012 alone,

Shell proceeds with global asset sales, sells some Nigeria oil fields

Shell last year put up for sale its 30 percent shares in four oil blocks in the Niger Delta.

Royal Dutch Shell has sold some of four oil fields up for grabs in Nigeria, it said on Wednesday, as the oil and gas company pushes ahead with global asset sales to cut costs.

Shell last year put up for sale its 30 percent shares in four oil blocks in the Niger Delta — Oil Mining Licence (OML) 18, 24, 25, 29 — as well as a key pipeline, the Nembe Creek Trunk Line.

“We have signed sales & purchase agreements for some of the Oil Mining Leases, but not all that we are seeking to divest,” a Shell spokesman said.

No details were available on the

IMF's Christine Lagarde 'under investigation'

French authorities have formally opened a negligence investigation into Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

She has been questioned about her role in awarding 400m euro (£318m; $527m) in compensation to businessman Bernard Tapie in 2008. She denies wrongdoing.

Ms Lagarde, 58, was finance minister in President Nicolas Sarkozy's government at the time of the award.

Mr Tapie supported Mr Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential election.

He was once a majority shareholder in sports goods company Adidas but sold it in 1993 in order to become a cabinet minister in Francois Mitterrand's Socialist government.

Bernard Tapie bought Olympique Marseille football club and

Scottish independence: Firms question "Yes" vote business case

More than 130 businesses have signed a letter saying the business case for Scottish independence "has not been made".

The signatories come from a variety of businesses including banking, mining, engineering, food, whisky, and technology.

But lobby group Business for Scotland said economic "facts and figures" support Scottish independence.

The letter will be published in Wednesday's Scotsman newspaper.

Scotland will go to the polls in the referendum on 18 September, with voters being asked asked the "Yes/No" question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

The letter is signed by business leaders including Douglas Flint, the chairman of HSBC; Andrew Mackenzie, the chief executive of the mining giant, BHP Billiton; and Sir John Grant, executive vice-president of policy at the energy company, BG Group.

Others include Audrey Baxter, executive chairman

Sourcing raw materials locally will create market for farmers — FG

The Federal Government has called on companies to source their raw materials locally as this will create markets for farmers, boost their income and employment.

Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) made the call while commending Nestle Nigeria Plc for buying raw materials for its seasoning, cereal and beverage product from local farmers.

Last year alone, Nestle bought over 21,450 tonnes of maize, sorghum and soybean from farmers under its Quality Grains Improvement Project.

A breakdown of the figure showed that in 2013, the company purchased 9,780 tonnes of maize, 5,340 tonnes of soybean and 6,330 tonnes of sorghum (totaling 21,450 tonnes) from farmers.

“I am excited that you source raw materials for your maggi, golden morn and Milo locally. I really commend you. As you buy them locally you create