Asian banks go shopping

Asian banks go shopping



Japanese financial institutions snap up troubled U.S. bank assets.

Nomura is to buy Lehman Brothers Asia operations, while Mitsubishi UFJ has snapped up 20 percent of Morgan Stanley.

Overseas acquisitions by Japanese financial companies already reached $12.5 billion this year.

Mitsubishi UFJ's acquisition of Morgan Stanley, estimated to be worth $8.5 billion, would be the biggest cross border outbound acquisition by a Japanese financial company.

Poverty pledge criticised

Poverty pledge criticised



World leaders meeting at the United Nations in New York have renewed their pledge to help African nations tackle poverty and improve future development.

Leaders from African governments have criticised wealthy nations for failing to meet their promises of increased aid.

The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said not one African country was on track to meet all of the aims agreed in the Millennium Development Goals which was set in 2000 to halve global poverty by 2015.

Israel fears growing trend after new Jerusalem incident

Israel fears growing trend after new Jerusalem incident



Israeli media on Tuesday raised fears of a growing trend of attacks by Palestinians from east Jerusalem after a man rammed his car into a group of soldiers, injuring 13 people before being shot dead.

Chinese watchdog resigns over milk scandal

Chinese watchdog resigns over milk scandal



China's top food safety watchdog has resigned over the country's growing tainted milk scandal.

Nearly 53,000 children have gotten sick because of the scare, including four deaths.

System-reload for eco-designers

System-reload for eco-designers



Designers meet in London to show how sustainability and environmental issues are re-shaping their work.

Two of the event's organisers, Damien Melotte and Cindy Kohtala, say they hope to create a worldwide network and a means of communication where eco-design ideas and experiences can be shares in an open sourced manner.

Hotel break - behind bars

Hotel break - behind bars



Visitors to a German city can get that jailhouse feeling, by spending the night in a former prison turned hotel.

At the "Alcatraz hotel" in Kaiserslautern, guests who want to spend a night behind bars can expect to pay around 50 euros, or 70 dollars (USD), for the experience.