latest world business news

A high tribunal of Iraq on Tuesday passed a death sentence on Tareq Aziz, once the international face of dictator Saddam Hussein's regime, over the persecution of Islamic parties, the court said. The death sentence was the first to be handed down to Aziz, who was well known in foreign capitals and at the United Nations before Saddam's downfall. He rose to prominence at the time of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the 1991 Gulf War, when he was foreign minister. "The court today issued the death sentence on Tareq Aziz and four others for committing crimes against humanity. The charge of elimination of religious parties was classified as crimes against humanity," Judge Mohammed Abdul-Sahib, a spokesman of the Iraqi High Tribunal, told the media. "The nature of the crimes is willful killing, torture and the enforced disappearance of persons." Last year, Aziz was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his part in the killings of dozens of merchants in 1992 and

The United States of America has dropped out from the "top 20" in a global league table of least corrupt nations, tarnished by financial scandals and the influence of money in politics, Transparency International said on Tuesday. Somalia was judged the most corrupt country, followed by Myanmar and Afghanistan at joint second-worst and then by Iraq, in the Berlin-based watchdog TI's annual corruption perceptions index (CPI). The USA has fallen down to 22nd from 19th last year, with its CPI score dropping to 7.1 from 7.5 in the 178-nation index, which is based on independent surveys on corruption. This was the lowest score awarded to the USA in the index's 15-year history and also the first time it had fallen out of the top 20. In the Americas, this put the USA behind Canada in sixth place, Barbados at 17th and Chile in 21st place. Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore are jointly heading the index with 9.3 point.They were also at the top of the table last year. The t

Britain's economy grew twice as fast as expected in the third quarter of this year, easing fears the recovery is tripping out and lowering the chance of more quantitative easing from the Bank of England. On the year, gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.8 percent, the fastest annual rate in three years and up from 1.7 percent in the previous quarter. British finance minister George Osborne said the figures gave him confidence that a steady recovery was underway, although economists maintained a sharp slowdown next year looked inevitable. The Office for National Statistics said the economy grew 0.8 percent between July and September, down from a nine-year high of 1.2 percent in the second quarter but at the very top end of economists' forecasts. Sterling jumped against the dollar and the euro and gilts hit a one-month low as investors reckoned BoE policymakers would struggle to make the case for more monetary stimulus next month, even if growth is expected to slow sharply

The dollar's strength led to a 3.3 percent drop this week in gold, roughly matching the metal's last significant weekly decline since July. Gold stabled on Friday after its first weekly decline in nearly 3 months, with bullion investors keeping an eye on any statements from the G20 meeting. Any currency reaction to the G20 meeting in South Korea this weekend could provide fresh momentum to the gold market. Analysts, however, said it is unlikely for members to reach a deal on a U.S.-led initiative for a commitment from emerging economies to allow their currencies to rise. "I don't think there was an expectation that they will come up with a grand solution because everybody does have a different interest," said Axel Merk, portfolio manager of Palo Alto, California-based Merk Mutual Funds. "It's just the very beginning of a currency war. It's going to take a while to brew over. I have no doubt gold will be the beneficiary in the long run," he

Andre Sougarret, the leader of the Engineering Team conducted the 66-days long rescue operation in Chile to give breathing opportunity to miners Three days after 33 men were sealed deep within a gold mine, Andre Sougarret was summoned by Chile's president. The Chilean leader got right to the point: The square-jawed, straight-talking engineer would be in charge of digging them out. At first Sougarret worried — no one knew if the miners were alive, and the pressure was on to reach them. And he knew he would be blamed if the men were found dead "because we didn't reach them or the work was too slow." But eventually, contact was made, the work was on, and the miners below were calling him "boss." The mission was unprecedented. No one had ever drilled so far to reach trapped miners. No one knew where to find them. From the first confusing days to this week's glorious finale, the 46-year-old Sougarret was the man with the answers. And at the en

Sales of trucks and passenger cars were both down as the number of new motor vehicles sold dropped 4.8 per cent in Canada in August this year. That's 128,764 new vehicles. Statistics Canada reports preliminary industry data indicate new vehicle sales increased four per cent in September. Sales of trucks (which include minivans, sport-utility vehicles, light and heavy trucks, vans and buses) fell 5.2 per cent to 73,002 in August after four straight monthly increases. The agency says passenger cars sales dropped 4.3 per cent to 55,762. North American-built car sales dropped 5.7 per cent and were the main contributor to the decline, while sales of overseas-built cars fell 2.6 per cent. New vehicle sales dropped seven provinces in August. The largest gain was in Alberta, where sales increased 2.4 per cent.

Home sales in Canada were down 20 per cent in September from the record highs of last year in what the chief economist of Canada's main real estate industry group described Friday as a trend that will continue well into next year. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) said Friday that 33,913 homes were sold in September, up three per cent from last month and the most since May. But sales were still significantly lower than the 42,431 recorded last September, when buyers flocked to the market as the economy showed signs of recovery from the recession. "They were pretty strong year-ago numbers, so that's to be expected," CREA's chief economist, Gregory Klump, said of the drop in comparative numbers. However, he noted that this September's sales reflected similar sales for the month in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Prices were little changed from last year at $331,089. Unfavourable year-over-year comparisons are expected to continue into the second quart