LONDON (AFP) - Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell unveiled its vision of the world's future energy sources Thursday, suggesting two scenarios where policy either remains with individual countries or is decentralised to allow a reduction in energy consumption and carbon emissions.

NEW YORK (AFP) - The meltdown in the US subprime real-estate market has led to a global loss of 7.

SYDNEY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Troubled Australian asset manager Allco Finance Group AFG.AX is trying to get out of a commitment to acquire a & #36;1.48 billion portfolio of U.S. power stations, an Australian media report said on Friday.

A New South Wales Upper Hunter environmental group fighting to stop the Anvil Hill coal mine says it is convinced the law is designed to discourage community challenges to major mining developments.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is reportedly in talks with Yahoo about a possible deal that would stave off an approach from Microsoft.

The Outback Highway Development Council will travel to Canberra in March to advise the new Federal Government on upgrading parts of the highway.

Sharemarket operator New Zealand Exchange has reported a 34 per cent increase in annual net profit after tax to & #36;A7.63 million.

Despite a soaring foreign oil bill and another record deficit with China, the US trade deficit has declined after setting records for five consecutive years.

Tokyo, Japan, Feb 14, 2008 - (JCN Newswire) - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has selected five companies as partner suppliers to provide major systems for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), a next-generation regional aircraft. After formal decision of authorization

FRANKFURT (AFP) - Commerzbank, the second biggest German bank, reported a record full-year result for 2007 Thursday, though the group's fourth quarter was hit by a heavy loss related to the US subprime market meltdown.

ZURICH (AFP) - Swiss banking giant UBS plunged to its first-ever full-year net loss on Thursday after losing 18 billion dollars in the US subprime mortgage crisis.

The Tasmanian Government has avoided a stoush with the Electrical Trades Union by ruling out the sale of state-owned power assets.

Brazilian police have mounted a major operation in the Amazon, seizing what they describe as one of the biggest loads of illegally-logged timber.

PARIS (AFP) - Air France-KLM, the world's leading airline, said Thursday it was prepared to invest in a tie-up between US carriers Delta and Northwest.

The following substantial shareholder notices were made to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) yesterday.

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's inflation rate, already the highest in the world, has soared to a new high of 66,212.3 percent, according to official figures obtained by AFP on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US annual trade deficit fell for the first time in six years in 2007, to 711.

LONDON (AFP) - Diageo, the world's biggest maker of alcoholic drinks, said on Thursday that net profit advanced 8.9 percent in the first half of the group's financial year, boosted by performance abroad.

FRANKFURT (AFP) - Shares in the troubled German business lender IKB leapt by more than 15 percent here on Thursday after a new aid package was unveiled to cover its latest subprime related losses.

LONDON (AFP) - The dollar slid against the euro on Thursday as Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke prepared to give a testimony on the struggling US economy before the US Senate.