REUTERS, MUMBAI - As prices in India shoot over the roof, the value of a politically sensitive, perishable commodity has tumbled, troubling farmers whose pleas for aid have gone unheard as the government battles runaway inflation.

Onion prices have nosedived 82 percent in the last seven months, as farmers boosted acreage due to higher prices last year, resulting in a bumper crop, but inflation shot up at an alarming pace during the period, aided by higher food prices.

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AP, WASHINGTON -- Inflation pressures eased a bit in April despite the biggest jump in food prices in 18 years.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that consumer prices edged up 0.2 percent last month, compared to a 0.3 percent rise in March.

REUTERS, Washington - A new wave of defense industry mergers and the increasing propensity of companies to protest contract losses signal the post-9/11 surge in US defense spending is finally coming to an end.

The US defense budget, which accounts for half the world's military spending, ramped up dramatically this decade but is now likely to plateau, albeit at a high level, according to defense analysts.

Reuters, Taipei - The row of gleaming bicycles being assembled on the factory floor of Giant Manufacturing, one of the world's biggest bicycle-makers, will soon hit streets from Seattle to Sydney, Amsterdam and even Beijing.

Reuters, Milan - World rice production will hit a record high this year but increasing demand and restrictions on exports will keep prices high, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Monday.

Global prices of staple foods have risen more than 40 percent in the last year causing shortages, hoarding and riots in some developing countries.

Rice prices have soared this year, and with world stocks at their lowest since the early 1980s governments and importers have scrambled to stock up amid fears of shortages.

REUTERS, MUMBAI - As prices in India shoot over the roof, the value of a politically sensitive, perishable commodity has tumbled, troubling farmers whose pleas for aid have gone unheard as the government battles runaway inflation.

Onion prices have nosedived 82 percent in the last seven months, as farmers boosted acreage due to higher prices last year, resulting in a bumper crop, but inflation shot up at an alarming pace during the period, aided by higher food prices.

REUTERS, HONG KONG - Oil prices retreated on Tuesday as some investors saw a recent rally to record highs as excessive, while Asian shares gained as banks were bolstered by further signals the worst of the credit crisis may now be over.

Trading was subdued for the most part, with the dollar steadying against the yen ahead of April US retail sales data due out later in the day, as well as a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

REUTERS, MADRID - Over a billion Asians may sink back into extreme poverty without extra aid to counter soaring food prices, the region's development bank warned on Monday as a battle brewed over who would fund its spending.

The call for cash to secure food supplies for Asia - home to two thirds of the world's poor - was accompanied by debate on whether developing countries or rapidly expanding nations like China and India should foot the bill.

REUTERS, PARIS - It is still possible to reach a deal on long-delayed world trade negotiations before the end of the year, the head of the World Trade Organisation said in an interview published on Tuesday.

"There are the political and technical conditions to wrap things up in 2008," the WTO's Pascal Lamy told the Les Echos newspaper, adding that the accord needed to be struck this month or next to give time for the final texts to be prepared.

REUTERS, TOKYO - Coca-Cola Co, the world's biggest drinks maker, is seeking more acquisition opportunities in the fast-growing soft drinks market to expand its revenue sources, the company's CEO-in-waiting said on Tuesday.

Sales of established soft drinks are declining in the United States as people opt for the likes of bottled water and tea, which they see as healthier.

REUTERS, MUMBAI - The rupee surrendered early gains on Tuesday, hitting fresh one-year lows as it extended the previous session's sharp fall as banks and companies bought dollars on concerns about a domestic slowdown.

At 9:36 am, the partially convertible rupee was at 42.14/42.15 per dollar, its lowest since mid-April 2007 and a 0.2 percent weaker than Monday's close of of 42.05/06.

REUTERS, TOKYO - Nissan Motor Co reported a 13.7 percent drop in fourth quarter operating profit on Tuesday and forecast a sharp fall in annual profits this year due to a weaker dollar, rising commodities prices and sinking US demand.

January-March operating profit at Nissan, Japan's No.3 automaker controlled by Renault SA, was 211.8 billion yen ($2.0 billion) ahead of an average estimate of 204.8 billion yen in a Reuters Estimates poll of 20 brokerages.

REUTERS, New York - The fight to buy Tribune Co's Newsday surprised many in the media world -- not because of its high-profile combatants, but because of the price they were willing to pay to buy a newspaper.

The bidding war, ended by Cablevision Systems Corp with a deal to buy Newsday for $650 million, is not indicative of where the newspaper industry is headed.

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Stocks ended lower Monday, driven by sell-offs.

Investors bet on insurers, non-bank financial institution and mutual fund majors but sold off the shares of pharmaceuticals and banks, according to an official with brokerage house IDLC Securities.

State-run oil entities and power shares were also at the heart of trading,

REUTERS, LONDON - Europe's biggest bank HSBC Holdings said its profit in the first quarter was ahead of a year earlier as growth in Asia and elsewhere helped counter another big hit for bad debts on U.S. home loans.

HSBC said in a trading statement on Monday it was increasingly likely the United States economy will go into recession this year.

REUTERS, WASHINGTON - A senior World Bank official said on Thursday that countries should not greatly increase biofuels production until there is more clarity about how much they have contributed to the global food price crisis.

Juergen Voegele, director for agriculture and rural development department at the World Bank, cautioned against shifting a lot of the blame to biofuels but also said massive subsidies for the biofuel industry was not helping the crisis.

REUTERS, BEIJING - China's consumer price inflation clung near a 12-year high in April, and authorities quickly reacted by raising the amount of money banks must keep in reserve, sticking to a tight policy despite weakening global growth.

For authorities who have insisted their priority is to tackle price rises, the quickening of annual inflation to 8.5 percent from 8.3 percent in March will be frustrating, while there is also a glimmer of optimism.