Infozone Breaking World News

With oil prices steadily rising again, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that this could affect global recovery amidst the global recession. The IEA also warn that the demand for oil may also be affected if price continue to rise into the next year.

Oil prices have risen by 77% in 2009 and is now trading at around $79 per barrel with China the driving force behind demand. In the IEA’s monthly report, it forecasts that there will be a 1.6% increase in demand for oil, taking it up to 86.2 million barrels per day.

The IEA added that the global economy was still fragile and demand within developed countries was falling as oil prices began to rise towards the $80 per barrel mark. The head of IEA’s oil industry division, David Fyfe said, “If prices keep rebounding, there’s a risk to the global economy as a whole, even to some of those economies in the Far East and even the Middle East”.

Although there is some concern about oil prices, the IEA also said that global demand would still grow in Q4 this year and that OPEC drilled more oil in October than September.

In a move that has surprised a few people, BT has announced that its BT Yahoo! web search will now be provided by Google. Although nothing will change for BT Broadband users, the co-branded Yahoo! and BT initiative which provides Yahoo services to BT users will now be powered by Google.

In a statement from BT it said, “We are delighted that we are continuing to work with Yahoo! through to 2011. As part of this new agreement BT Yahoo!’s web search will be provided by Google. We made this decision based on the fact Google is the most popular search engine in the UK. The combination of Google’s search engine with Yahoo!’s leading content and email services offers customers the ultimate broadband experience.”

Probably the most surprising part is that BT did not opt to use Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine, as Yahoo and Microsoft have just agreed a search ad deal in the US.

Meanwhile, Google will be pleased as they are now the largest search provider in the UK, having captured the majority of the big internet service providers.

Only last week Michael Schumacher stated that he would be returning to F1 to fill in for injured Massa Ferrari’s 2nd driver.

After undergoing intense testing Michael Schumacher will not be returning to F1 due to a neck injury that happened during a bike accident.

Luca Badoer is now the stand in for Massa and has vowed to do all he can to help Ferrari.

Massa’s injury was sustained after a lose spring broke free from a Brawn GP car only moments earlier on the same lap.

Michael Schumacher is set for a dramatic Formula 1 return to temporarily replace the injured Felipe Massa.
Massa was injured by a spring on the race track that had fallen from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn GP car, only minutes earlier.

Earlier this week Schumacher’s agent said he was 200% sure that he wouldn’t be getting back into the Ferrari car to race in F1 again.

Schumacher is now 40 and will be the oldest driver on the track. He is set to undergo a special training program to prove that he is still fit enough to compete in Formula 1.

He will be set for a comeback for the GP of Europe at Valencia, it will be interesting to see how he copes with tracks that he hasn’t raced on before  and the evening race in Singapore.

More than 60 people have been left injured after a series of mini pile ups on Germanys A2 Autobahn known as the Autobahn 2 which connects the Ruhr region in the west to Berlin in the east.
More than 259 cars were involved in the accident which German police have blamed on a mix of excessive speed and heavy rain. The German motorway police have said that 10 people are suffering from life threatening injuries and 21 were left with series injuries.

Germany Autobahn

Pope Benedict XVI is been treated in hospital today with a suspected broken wrist, and twisted ankle after a fall in his bathroom whilst on holiday.

Benedict XVI who is 82 was seen walking into the local Parini hospital with his private secretary monsignor Georg Ganswein at around 10am this morning.

The Vatican was quick to release a statement saying that it wasn’t serious and that the pope was been checked over as a precaution, and was due to have an x-ray on both injury’s.

Every summer Pope Benedict XVI takes a break in a chalet in Les Combes in the Italian Alps which is now traditional and was started by Pope John Paul II.

Benedict XVI has been lucky and hasn’t had any injury’s or visits to hospital since he was elected leader of the roman Catholic church back in April 2005.

Australian immigration has announced plans to increase the fees charged to foreign students wishing to study in Australia with a student visa.

The increases, which will result in student visa fees increasing by around 20%, will come into play next year, after the changes were announced in the budget.

The current student visa application fee is AU$450. This will increase to $540 from January 2010. The increase comes despite the need to attract students to study in Australia as they bring with them a vital source of income for the economy.

The increases are expected to boost revenues by $400 million, providing the numbers of students moving to Australia to study do not reduce as a result of the price hikes.

The increases are intended to help pay for the country’s migration and temporary entrant programme. However, the fee increase has attracted criticism from the National Union of Students which claims fees have increased by 90% over just 12 years and are now higher than the countries Australia competes against to attract students.

Universities Australia is also concerned that the fee increase, although a small amount in comparison to the cost of study overall, is symbolic and may put people off but figures released by Australia immigration show a 20 per cent growth on the same time last year.

Australia remains a popular destination for thousands of overseas students on study visas. Earlier this month, Gulshan Kumar, a former Education Officer with the Australian High Commission, said Australia immigration was the ideal choice for international student visa holders because the recession has not affected it as severely as other western countries.

“The number of Indian students going to Australia is still increasing, in fact, I think these numbers may go higher, as many of the students who have lost their jobs in India would like to avail this opportunity to upgrade their education and skill level,” said Kumar.

One of the rarest forms of diamond, the blue diamond fetched a record breaking 10.5 million Swiss Francs (£6.2m) at an auction house in Geneva. The diamond, which weighs 7.03 carats, is so rare that there is only a handful in existence.

The diamond was mined in the South African Cullinan mine last year, and once inspected, was graded flawless; the highest grade given to a diamond. The rarity of these diamonds is down to the fact that there are only a few places in the world that mine for blue diamonds.

 World renowned auctioneer David Bennett said that: “It is a new world record price for a blue diamond.”

He also added, “For people who are looking to buy something that nobody else has, or somebody who wants something that is beyond beautiful, a blue diamond is going to be very difficult to find, so when they appear on the market, you have to have a go.”

The winning bidder will now get to name the diamond, which is mounted in a platinum ring, but has so far wished to remain anonymous.

A recent study conducted by Nielson has found that social networking sites have become more popular than e-mail, with 67% of users spending time on social networking and blogging sites. The survey found that social networking is growing four times faster than other sectors and that in the UK one out of every six minutes spent on the internet is on a networking site.

Chief executive at Nielson Online, John Burbank said: “Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience,”

Adding that, “Social networking will continue to alter not just the global online landscape, but the consumer experience at large.”

The popularity of social networking sites has become apparent of the last few years with the success of MySpace and Facebook. It is also estimated that over a quarter of Facebook’s users are over 50 years old and the biggest segment of new users to the site were between 35 and 49 years old.

Toyota has announced that it will be closing all 12 of its factories in Japan for 11 days during February and March as it tries to decrease its overstock of unsold cars. Toyota has already announced that its factories will close for three days in January; this is the first time since 1993 that Toyota has halted production of its cars.

Toyota, as well as major US car manufacturers General Motors and Ford have seen a huge decline in sales over the last year, especially in the US, with Toyota suffering a 37% fall in December, worse than any other car manufacturer.

It is estimated that around 40% of the cars made in Toyota’s Japanese plants are sold in the US, and the current economic climate and the strength of the yen have all contributed to the latest sales figures.

Toyota’s sales in Japan have also been struggling, down 18% in December and nearly 7.4% down for the whole of 2008.

It was not all bad news for the struggling car manufacturer, as Toyota’s share rose by 1.3% on the stock market as the yen took a hit against the dollar.