About $350 million worth of diamonds are illegally extracted in Angola every year.

LUANDA, Nov. 10--At least $1.4 billion worth of diamonds have been smuggled out of Angola since 2000, the state-run Jornal de Angola said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
"This corresponds to $350 million per year of diamonds, illegally extracted mainly by foreign citizens," the paper said.
Angola has been trying to clean up the sector since its 27-year civil war ended in April 2002.
It has expelled thousands of illegal immigrants who it says are plundering natural resources and smuggling diamonds abroad.
As part of efforts to bring production under state control, state diamond firm Endiama had set up 8 buying offices in diamond areas where informal miners can sell their diamonds.
Despite its immense wealth, most of Angola's people still live in abject poverty.

Japanese models ranked first in a closely watched survey of vehicle owners.

DETROIT, USA,
Nov. 10--Japanese automakers lived up to their reputation for industry-leading quality in a closely watched survey of vehicle owners published Tuesday by Consumer Reports magazine, AFP reported.
The Japanese earned top marks in the magazine's annual survey of cars and trucks, with a whopping 29 of the 32 nameplates on the magazine's "most reliable" list.
The same survey gave US automakers mixed reviews, and pounded their European counterparts for quality failings, including storied marques: Mercedes, Jaguar, BMW and Volkswagen.
Toyota Motor Corp., long the benchmark for industry quality, led the pack, with 16 models on the magazine's "best" list, spread over its Toyota, Scion and Lexus brands.
Honda Motor Co. had seven models on the most-reliable list, including two by its Acura brand.
Hyundai's midsized Sonata sedan also earned top marks, the first time the Korean automaker has figured on the magazine's "best" list and underlining the strides it has made in quality.
The survey will not make very happy reading for European automakers, however.
They dominated the "least reliable" category, accounting for 20 of the 38 models on that list, including the high-priced Mercedes-Benz S-Class, E-Class; the Jaguar S-Type and X-Type; and the BMW 7 Series and 5 Series.
Most of Volkswagen's models, including the Golf, Jetta and New Beetle, also rated far below average for reliability.
Among the least reliable vehicles were Ford's flagship F-150 pick-up truck, the Volkswagen Touareg sport-utility vehicle, BMW 5 Series sedan, Nissan Quest minivan and the Mercedes-Benz SLK roadster.
The consumer magazine based its survey on feedback from five million consumers and appears in issues on newsstands Tuesday.

WASHINGTON,
Nov. 10--Microsoft on Thursday will launch its long-awaited Internet search service that is expected to compete with market leaders Google and Yahoo, The Wall Street Journal said.
Microsoft, which has been developing its search engine for 18 months, is trying to get a bigger share of the lucrative business of combining Internet search and advertising, people familiar with the Redmond, Washington-based sofware company told the daily on Wednesday.
For Google, Microsoft's move could spell trouble since the new search engine will be incorporated in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, which sells as an integral part of the Windows platform that equips 90 percent of personal computers sold around the world.
Analysts said Microsoft's search engine, a preview version of which will be unveiled Thursday, comes in response to Google's expected launch of free instant messaging and other services that broaden the areas it searches to include data on PCs.
Microsoft by year end is expected to also have a PC search tool, The Wall Street Journal said.
Scott Kessler, an analyst at Standard and Poor's in New York, said Microsoft's move into search is significant, but that the company is "well behind Google and Yahoo in terms of consumer perceptions about search. It's going to be an uphill battle for them."
But Microsoft, which was slow to realize the magnitude of the Internet revolution, is prepared to use its multi-billion-dollar treasure chest to quickly get all it needs to catch up.

LONDON, Nov. 10--After a four-year wait, billions of pounds spent on licenses and numerous delays, Vodafone finally rolled out mass-market third-generation (3G) mobile telephone services Wednesday, AFP reported.
Vodafone live! with 3G will be available in 12 European countries and Japan. The range of 10 new 3G handsets will offer services including video calling, full track music download, 3D games and mobile television.
The phones will have faster download speeds and improved quality of sound and images, with a two mega pixel camera and stereo speakers.
Handsets will be supplied by Sharp, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, NEC, Nokia and Samsung.
The introduction marks the full global launch of 3G services for Vodafone, whose previous limited 3G offerings have seen it lag behind competitors.
Vodafone has always said it would rather take the time needed to iron out any glitches in the services rather than botch their introduction.
The group spent billions of pounds (euros, dollars) on acquiring 3G licenses across Europe and in Japan in 2000, but as it pushed the launch date of high-speed services further and further into the future, investors started to question whether it would ever recoup its massive investment.
Vodafone chief executive Arun Sarin described the launch as "the start of a new era in mobile communications".
He added, "Vodafone live! with 3G will dramatically change the way our customers experience their Vodafone services and we are confident that Vodafone live! with 3G will be a success.
"Vodafone live! with 3G will become increasingly mass market next year and we expect over 10 million customers to be using Vodafone live! with 3G by March 2006 in our subsidiaries."
The roll-out follows the successful launch of the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G datacard and initial 3G consumer services across eight European markets.
Vodafone had announced in September that the new handsets would be available in shops in Europe and Japan in time for the crucial Christmas period.
The 3G services will be available in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain.

Tenant enquiries and leasing activity are especially high in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney.

SINGAPORE, Nov. 10--Rental demand for commercial real estate in the Asia-Pacific's biggest cities is at a four-year high, fuelled by the region's robust economies, property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle said Wednesday, AFP reported.
The demand is coming from companies who are looking to expand their operations in anticipation of increased business activity, the property consultant said in a report. Tenant enquiries and leasing activity are especially high in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney, it said.
"Office demand is at its strongest since 2000," said Leslie Chua, head of the regional real estate intelligence service at Jones Lang LaSalle.
"Cost considerations are less important for now as corporates are more interested in rebuilding their operations in anticipation of more growth.
"The higher rents and lower vacancies in the region are reflecting this mood of optimism."
Demand is outstripping supply and this is expected to push up office rentals, Jones Lang LaSalle said.
"The availability of quality space, and increasingly contiguous space, continues to shrink and this is beginning to impact on rents with landlords now less generous with incentives," the report said.
"Office rents for major financial centers in Asia will continue to rise."
In Tokyo, rentals rose in the second quarter and in Singapore, they have similarly increased due to shrinking quality space in the prime business district, the report said.
In China and India, demand for prime office space remained strong, it said, adding that Shanghai continues to be a favorite site for multinationals.

BIRMINGHAM, England, Nov. 10--French Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday urged Britain to play an integral role in the European Union's push for economic reform, AFP reported.
Addressing Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and business leaders in Birmingham, central England, Sarkozy said Britain must not be afraid of Europe and should acknowledge the importance of its ties to the EU.
"I am deeply convinced of this, Europe needs Britain," Sarkozy said in a keynote speech during the annual conference of the Confederation of British Industry.
In a dig at London's close relationship with Washington, Sarkozy said Britain was "closer to Europe than the United States and that is the reality".
Reaching out to Britain, the French minister added, "We needn't be afraid of Europe and if you wish Europe to resemble you more, then in that case take your place at the European table because I am convinced that if you want to make things change you have to change them from inside, not from the outside."
Britain is frustrated at the EU's slow pace of economic reform, arguing that it harmed the trading bloc's future standing in the world.
A report last week by former Dutch prime minister Wim Kok concluded there had been "inadequate" progress on the Lisbon Strategy, a grand plan to make the European Union the world's most dynamic economy by 2010, due to "a lack of commitment and political will".
Addressing the CBI ahead of Sarkozy on Tuesday, Brown called on the EU to move from a 25-member trade bloc that looks inwards to become "outward looking, reforming and open".
Brown had earlier vaunted his own record as Chancellor of the Exchequer, having brought Britain economic stability thanks to low unemployment and inflation, as well as strong growth.

LAGOS, Nigeria, Nov. 10--Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Tuesday launched an anti-corruption drive at the ministry three weeks after a global watchdog named her country the world's third most corrupt nation, AFP reported.
"We are not trying to say corruption does not exist or defending it. We know it exists and we reject it," said Okonjo-Iweala, a former World Bank vice president, who launched the initiative in Abuja.
She said the finance ministry should be at the vanguard of fighting corruption, and hence the launch of the anti-corruption unit.
Located outside the ministry building and fitted with hotlines and "whistle-blowing techniques", the unit plans to monitor all forms of possible corruption, she said.
The watchdog Transparency International (TI) last October 20 named Africa's most populous nation as the world's third most corrupt nation among the 145 countries surveyed.
Nigeria has angrily rejected the results and methodology used by TI in its "Corruption Perceptions Index" which placed the country right behind Haiti and Bangladesh.
Nigeria's information ministry hit back in a strongly worded statement, branding the index "fundamentally flawed, irrelevant and of little use to reforming countries or those interested in a genuine war against corruption."
"It has consistently used these dubious paradigms to gain world acclaim, while destroying the reputations of nations and impugning their efforts at enthroning good governance," the ministry's statement said.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has begun a campaign to root out corruption in Nigeria's public sector, forming two anti-graft bodies and ordering a handful of high-profile arrests, but the drive has yet to secure any high-profile convictions.

NEW DELHI, India, Nov. 10--India could chalk up 10 percent annual growth for a number of years with the right mix of fiscal policies and continued economic reforms, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday, AFP reported.
IMF first deputy managing director Anne Krueger was full of praise for sweeping free-market reforms introduced by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 1991, when he was the finance minister.
"In the 1960s and 1970s, India posted low growth and was not so well-placed to reap the advantages of globalization but the well-thought out reforms started in 1991 have completely changed the scenario.
"Growth of 10 percent is certainly possible for a number of years with a feasible mix of policies," Krueger said.
"As the Indian market becomes more integrated with the global market it will reap even higher benefits from market liberalization."
She did not say when India might start achieving 10 percent growth.
India's economy expanded by 8.2 percent in the fiscal year to March 2004, making it one of the world's fastest-growing.
However, economists forecast growth of just 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent this year due to patchy monsoon rains in the agriculture-dependent country and the impact of high global oil prices.