High food prices 'here to stay'

High food prices "are here to stay" as governments divert resources to make biofuels, amass stockpiles and limit exports, according to Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, chairman of Nestle SA, the world's largest food company.

'Boost production to tackle global crisis'

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda yesterday urged world governments to step up agriculture production to ease the global crisis over rising food prices.

What if oil hits the $250 mark?

At $250 a barrel for crude oil, food prices double. The US, Japan and Europe plunge into deep recession. Companies go bankrupt. Sport-utility vehicle sales dry up as gasoline tops $7 a gallon.

Europe, Asia 'best placed' to handle slowdown

Asia and Europe are better placed than others to cope with the global economic slowdown, according to officials attending a meeting of finance ministers from the two regions in Jeju, South Korea.

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InBev offers $46b for Anheuser-Busch

InBev NV offered to buy Anheuser-Busch Cos, the maker of Budweiser beer, for $46.3 billion in cash to create the world's biggest brewer with half of the US market.

Japan Tobacco damns tax plans

Japan Tobacco Inc said a proposal to triple cigarette prices through higher taxes would devastate the nation's tobacco industry and could hurt the share price of the world's third-largest publicly traded cigarette maker.

High-stakes tanker fight could end up decided in court

Boeing Co and Northrop Grumman Corp, locked in a three-month dispute over a $35 billion US Air Force refueling-tanker contract, may wind up in court before the fight is done.

Lee says sorry as trial starts in Seoul

The former head of South Korea's biggest business group Samsung went on trial yesterday for tax evasion and breach of trust, less than two months after stepping down in the wake of a corruption probe.

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