The issues of climate change, human rights, anti-corruption and access to water are among the hot topics that are factoring into investment and business decision-making processes, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, Georg Kell said.

The global credit crisis has affected Korean and Chinese shipyards, which are seeing order cancellation in dry bulk and wet bulk carriers. Hindustan Shipyard, which handles both government and private clients, has not not seen any order cancellations, a top official of the company said.

David H McCormick, under secretary for international affairs at the US Department of Treasury, said on Tuesday that in an era of global trade and investment both the US and Asia need each other to maintain strong economic growth. McCormick was speaking at the Asia Society on 'US-Asia Economic Relations -- the Next Chapter,'.

International traffic dropped by about 10 per cent and domestic traffic by about 24 per cent compared to the same period last year, predominantly as a result of the terror attack in the country's financial hub Mumbai, says Himanshu Singh, managing director, travelocity.co.in, an online portal.

Going by the adage 'necessity is the mother of invention', business process outsourcing knowledge process outsourcing units in Gujarat keep finding unique ways to cut cost amidst economic slowdown.

However, the state-run oil marketing company a couple of months back had re-phased the project comprising the refinery and a petro-chemical complex in view of escalating cost. Both the refinery and the petro-chemical complex at Paradeep were earlier estimated to cost Rs 26,000 crore (Rs 260 billion). But the cost has now gone up to about Rs 45,000 crore (Rs 450 billion).

An entire nation and even the world is literally walking on a razor's edge, yet we have some marketers of insurance and banking products using the financial crisis as a plank or a fear factor to sell? A G Krishanmurthy is appalled by their lack of ethics.

Since the acquisition by Tata Steel in January 2007, which catapulted the domestic steel major to the world's sixth, this is the first layoff announced by the Corus.

With endowment values and charitable gifts likely to decline, the process of setting next year's tuition fee low enough to keep students coming, but high enough to support operations, is trickier than ever, a media report said on Saturday. Dozens of college presidents, especially of wealthy institutions, have sent letters and e-mail to students and their families describing their financial situation and belt-tightening plans, the New York Times said.

In its bi-annual report 'Food Outlook', FAO noted that much of the boost in cereal production took place in developed countries, where farmers were in a better position to respond to high prices. Concepcion Calpe, one of the main authors of the report, said this year's record cereal harvest and the recent fall in food prices should not create a false sense of security.

Singh, who arrived in an icy Beijing on Thursday evening from a warmer Tokyo, said, "This the first time I am attending the Asia-Europe Summit as the prime minister. I sincerely hope that the meeting of minds between Europe and Asia will produce a solution to many global problems, including the international financial crisis."

A fresh round of selling, mainly in metal stocks, in the second half of day saw the index slide to a low of 14,610. The market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,730 stocks traded, 1,722 declined, 931 advanced and the rest were unchanged.

We should all use this opportunity to cleanse ourselves of the excesses and the sins of omission we have all been guilty of.

Global meltdown has triggered a panic. But it is a much-abused term. This downslide actually means investors should stay invested and await the turnaround.

Global stock market meltdown is having discernable changes on the commodities markets. Worry of a US recession too has its unique effect on the commodities markets across the globe.

Gujaratis, the community that boasts of the largest number of investors in the stock market, are witnessing extraordinary financial turmoil with many families going bankrupt overnight, literally.