Solid demand from the aerospace and auto markets has resulted in the company’s net income nearly doubling to $121 million. In announcing the results Alcoa highlighted productivity improvements and higher volumes in its downstream business as factors that help partially offset higher pension and maintenance costs.

It was in 1988 that BF Goodrich, the company that first discovered how to bond rubber to steel, decided to divest the industrial businesses it had accrued and focus on its aerospace assets. The US rubber lining business was sold to RJF International Corporation, while its Canadian operations to Epton Industries Incorporated. In 1996, Peter Snucins purchased the assets and intellectual property of Epton Industries and created Polycorp Ltd in Elora, Ontario.

“Over all,” explains Mohammed Akoojee, executive responsible for investor relations and corporate strategy, “our performance over the last 12-to-18 months has been good, with the majority of our core business segments showing strong growth. We just released a report that shows that our earnings during the last six months were up 15 percent, even in the face of some challenging market conditions that we were exposed to during that time period.”

The company is currently working on the development of a hydrokinetic energy generation device and will be supported by a £100,000 award from Scottish Enterprise.

Samuel Lewinter, chief executive of ResHydro, said: "We are pleased to have the opportunity to open our Scottish subsidiary where we will have access to significant technical expertise and where market conditions will contribute to the most expeditious commercialisation of our technology."

The bank has announced that it will increase its purchase of government bonds by 50 trillion yen ($520 billion), a figure that is equivalent to approximately ten percent of Japan’s annual gross domestic product.

Japan's economy has been hurt by a variety of factors, not least decades of deflation or falling prices. Falling prices discourage people from spending and companies from investing, and that has trapped Japan in a cycle of what analysts have described as sluggish growth and recession.

Measuring approximately 0.3 miles in length the vessel will be almost as long as five football fields and take the crown of being the largest floating facility in the world.

Plans for the vessel represent the next stage in the two company’s plans to develop the Scarborough field using floating LNG. Analysts also see the move as the latest vote of confidence for what is still very much an untried technology. Nevertheless, energy companies remain hopefully that it will help bring down the rising cost of developing gas.

It was in 1994 that the Telecommunications Act gave rise to what was at the time dubbed the Communications Authority of Zambia. While it was mandated to regulate and monitor almost every aspect of the country’s telecommunication sector, the Authority was somewhat hampered by the restrictiveness of the Telecommunications Act, which did not give it the power to regulate competition amongst telecoms operators, provide cyber security regulations or even regulate the postal sector.

Founded in 1542, Santiago has been the capital city of Chile since colonial times. Located within the country’s central valley, its cityscape is shaped by several stand-alone hills and the Mapocho River. Situated mere hours away from both the mountains and the Pacific Ocean, visitors to Santiago are also treated to views of the iconic Andes Mountains from most places across the city.