Microsoft readies bumper update

Microsoft will issue its biggest ever security update on 13 October.

The update will include 13 bulletins that between them tackle 34 vulnerabilities.

Microsoft said that eight of the bulletins were rated as critical - the most serious sort of vulnerability.

The security patches will close loopholes in many different programs including different editions of Windows, Internet Explorer and some elements of Office.

One update, rated as critical, tackles a loophole in Internet Explorer 8 running under Windows 7. The next version of Microsoft's operating system is due to be released on 22 October.

Most people will get the updates automatically but links to download them can also be found on Microsoft's security pages. Once applied to a PC, the machine will need to be re-started before the fixes take effect.

In a blog posting giving an outline of the updates, Jerry Bryant, a Microsoft security expert, said two of the fixes were for problems flagged up in earlier advisories.

One of those loopholes, for the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) bundled in with Microsoft's Internet Information Server, is already being exploited by some hi-tech criminals.

Windows is by far the most popular target for cyber criminals and the vast majority of the millions of malicious programs, including worms and trojans, are aimed at the operating system.

Prior to the bumper October security update, Microsoft's biggest every update was released in June 2009. That package of 10 fixes tackled 31 vulnerabilities.

Microsoft typically issues its updates on the second Tuesday of every month. It started this regular monthly update system in late 2003.

First woman wins economics Nobel

Elinor Ostrom has become the first woman to win the Nobel prize for economics since it began in 1968.

Ms Ostrom won the prize with fellow American Oliver Williamson for their separate work in economic governance.

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is the last of the six Nobel prizes announced this year. Since 1980, it has gone to Americans 24 times.

Last Friday, US President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize - though this aroused some controversy.

Oil rises above USD 72 ahead of US company results

Oil prices rose above USD 72 a barrel on Monday in Asia as investors looked to a slew of US corporate earnings reports this week for signs of economic recovery..

Benchmark crude for November delivery was up 44 cents at USD 72.21 by midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 8 cents to USD 71.77 on Friday.

Crude investors will be eyeing third quarter company results and forecasts for the rest of the year for clues about the strength of the US economy.



Top banks JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. report this week along with Google Inc., Southwest Airlines Co., Intel Corp., IBM Corp., General Electric Co., and Johnson & Johnson.



A more optimistic crude demand forecast by the International Energy Agency on Friday helped boost trader confidence.



The Paris-based IEA, which advises oil-consuming countries, said demand will likely reach 86.1 million barrels a day in 2010, up 1.7 percent from this year.

Kuwaiti oil minister Sheik Ahmed Al Abdullah Al Sabah told the state news agency on Sunday that an oil price range between USD 60 to USD 80 a barrel is acceptable -- echoing earlier remarks by Saudi Arabia.

The two Middle Eastern countries are members of the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries, which accounts for about a third of the world's oil production.

In London, Brent crude rose 48 cents to USD 70.48 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Weak dollar improves US trade gap

The US trade deficit shrank unexpectedly in August as the weak dollar boosted exports, according to figures from the Commerce Department.

The deficit, which is the difference between US imports and exports, fell to $30.7bn (£19.3bn) from a revised estimate of $31.9bn in July.

Exports rose slightly on the back of the weak dollar while imports fell.

The dollar has slipped recently, with traders moving into other currencies as the global economy begins to recover.

"I would interpret a flattening out of the trade deficit showing a broader stability in the economy," said Keith Hembre at FAF Advisors.

Imports in August totalled $158.9bn, compared with $159.8bn in July. Exports totalled $128.2bn, compared with $128bn in July.

The slight fall in imports reflects a small reduction in demand for goods among US consumers.

When the US economy begins to grow more strongly, this demand should pick up and the deficit could grow again.

GM agrees Chinese sale of Hummer

General Motors (GM) has agreed to sell its iconic Hummer brand to Chinese firm Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery for an undisclosed fee.

The two parties had been in talks about the sale for a number of months.

GM is in the process of selling and winding up a number of brands as it looks to reorganise after emerging from bankruptcy protection in July.

At the start of this month, the troubled carmaker announced it would be winding down its Saturn brand.

This was after the proposed sale to Penske Automotive Group collapsed.

GM has already announced that it is discontinuing the Pontiac brand, and is close to finalising the sale of its European brands Saab, Opel and Vauxhall. GM plans to reinvent itself by concentrating on fewer brands following bankruptcy protection, made necessary after car sales plummeted during the downturn.

Tata Motors to raise USD 600 mn via share sale in intl mkt

India's largest auto maker Tata Motors on Friday said it will raise up to USD 600 million (about Rs 2,783 crore) through issue of securities in the international market.

"The company has today launched an issuance of GDS (Global Depository Shares) and convertible notes for an aggregate amount up to USD 600 million, with an option to retain higher amount in the international market," Tata Motors said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Shares of Tata Motors plunged five per cent to a low of Rs 558.20 in the morning trade on the BSE.

Last month, Tata Motors sold 50 lakh shares in Tata Steel at an average price of Rs 473 a piece, aggregating to Rs 236.50 crore through open market transaction.

The auto maker had in August approached public for the second time in a year to raise about Rs 1,500 crore via fixed deposit schemes, offering up to 9.88 per cent annual interest for a three-year deposit.

In December 2008, it borrowed over Rs 2,000 crore from public for a period of up to three years as it was struggling to finance its USD 2.3-billion JLR buyout. nd

World financial crisis 'not over'

The US economist widely credited with having predicted the financial crisis has warned we are already "planting the seeds of the next crisis".

Nouriel Roubini told the BBC that he is concerned about the growing gap between the "bubbly and frothy" stock markets and the real economy.

Over the last six months, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen about 45%.

But Mr Roubini says he sees an economy where consumers are "shopped out" and "debt burdened".

'Crisis not over'

Based on the run up in share prices in recent months, investors appear to be betting that good times are around the corner. A view not shared by Mr Roubini.

"The crisis is not yet over," the New York University professor said."I see an economy where the consumers are shopped out, debt burdened, they have to cut back consumption and save more.

"The financial system is damaged... and for the corporate sector I don't see a lot of capital spending because there is a glut of capacity."

Mr Roubini believes US house prices have further to fall, straining America's fragile recovery.

US President Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

United States President Barrack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Nobel Committee said in Oslo on Friday.

Obama has called for disarmament and worked to restart the stalled Middle East peace process since taking office in January. He scored another first of sorts by winning the Nobel Peace Prize while just a few months in office.

Barack Hussein Obama was born on 4th August, 1961 is the 44th and current President of the United States.

He is the first African American to hold the office, as well as the first born in Hawaii.

Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review.

Obama is the third sitting U.S. President to be awarded the prize, following Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter won in 2002.

The prize worth 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.4 million) will be handed over in Oslo on 10th December.

EU consults on Microsoft pledges

The European Union has begun an investigation to determine whether Microsoft is upholding pledges to curb anti-competitive practices.

It is consulting PC makers, software firms and consumers on Microsoft's offer to allow users to pick different browsers when they install Windows.

The bloc ruled in 2004 that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position by freezing out rivals.

It said Microsoft must let rivals' products run on its operating system.

"The commission will formally market test proposals made by Microsoft to address concerns regarding the tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows PC operating system," said the EU's competition commissioner Neelie Kroes.

"The preliminary view is that Microsoft's commitments would indeed address our concerns," she added.

"PC users should have an effective and unbiased choice between Internet Explorer and competing web browsers."

Toyota increases hiring in Japan

Toyota is hiring 800 contract workers in Japan, its first increase in jobs in more than a year.

The Japanese carmaker said this was due to higher demand for its Prius petrol-electric hybrid in Japan.

Toyota now employs 1,300 contract workers in Japan, who are distinct from the 70,000 full-time workers that have guaranteed lifetime employment.

Toyota, struggling with the global downturn in auto sales, had stopped employing contractors last June.

The majority start work next month at its Tsutsumi plant in central Japan, which makes the Prius and other models for the Japanese market.

The Prius, launched in 1997, is now in its third generation. By the end of April, Toyota had sold 1,028,000 of the cars worldwide, more than half of them in North America.

At its peak in 2005, Toyota employed over 11,600 contract workers - who are hired for fixed periods of employment.

Gold returns back above $1,000

The price of gold has touched $1,000 an ounce for the first time in six months.

The move could be seen as a sign that investors believe the worst of the global recession is over and are worried about inflation.

Others who are less convinced about the strength of the recovery are moving into gold, which is usually sought as a haven from economic turmoil.

Gold - seen as an attractive investment in times of inflation - has risen 13.6% in value this year.

'Uncertainty'

The US dollar - which often moves in the opposite direction to gold - has been declining during that same time.

"Gold's rising price is due to uncertainty all the way from personal investors right through to institutions," said Sandra Close, an analyst at Surbiton Associates."There are questions out there over the health of economies, where interest rates are going. All that encourages gold hoarding," she said.

Gold reached an all-time record of $1,032 an ounce in March 2008.

The commodity is measured and sold in troy ounces. One troy ounce equals 31.1035 grams or 480 grains. One troy ounce is equal to 1.09711 avoirdupois ounce - those widely used to measure weights in the US and UK.

Gold has risen for each of the past eight years.