Benchmark crude for October delivery was down 19 cents at US$74.24 a barrel by mid morning London time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 99 cents to settle at US$74.43 on Thursday.

Crude prices have retreated nearly 8 percent in the past two weeks as the U.S. economic newsflow has generally underperformed. At one point on Thursday, oil prices fell to a six-week low below US$74 a barrel after figures showed an unexpected rise increase in weekly U.S. jobless claims to half a million, and a big drop in manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region.

Lower U.S.

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Multimedia video projectors are on the market for use both within the boardroom and in the home. Nevertheless consumers ought to bear in mind that there are a few distinct differences between business projectors and home theater projectors – producing excellent presentations at the office might not necessarily be the ideal product for use in the home. If you travel a lot for example, then a business projector could be a bit too heavy to lug around, do some research on a projector with more mobility.

In general terms, a digital projector is a device that connects to a personal computer or similar devise via a cable to enable the computer monitor display to become enlarged and projected onto a screen. T

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WOMEN are still more than a decade away from having pay equality in the workplace in Wales, new figures have revealed.

According to a report from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and XpertHR, figures reveal the average salaries of male and female managers are still far apart – with men earning an average £6,570 more than women.

The CMI figures estimate that women managers in Wales are still 13 years away from achieving pay equality with their male counterparts – but that’s a more positive picture than the UK as a whole, where women can only expect pay equality in 57 years.

The 2010 National Management Salary Survey showed female salaries in Wales increased by 3.9% over the past 12 months, compared to 2.3% for men.

However, there are signs that Wales is making much greater strides towards paying fairly than anywhere else in the UK.

While the gap persists at senior level – a difference of £1,877 for team leaders – at junior level female executives from Wales received £324 more than male executives.

The research also revealed a contrast between male and female labour turnover rates UK-wide, particularly with regard to redundancy.

Over the past 12 months, 4.5% of the female workforce experienced redundancy, compared to just 3% of men.

The difficult economic circumstances, combined with unsatisfactory salaries, may have contributed to a dramatic increase in resignations, particularly at director level where 7.7% of female directors voluntarily left their posts in the past year, compared to just 3.6% of men. Female resig

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The dollar was changing hands at 85.81 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, down from 86.28 yen late Friday in New York, where the greenback had slumped to the mid-84 yen level last week.

The euro edged up to US$1.2791compared with US$1.2750, while it eased to 109.72 yen from 109.95.

Global recovery fears were brought into focus by Japan’s weaker-than-expected gross domestic product figures, as it reported that its economy grew at the slowest pace in three quarters during April-June.

Real gross domestic product increased by an annualized 0.4 percent in the quarter, sharply missing forecasts from economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires of 2.3 percent annualized growth.

On a quarterly basis, growth was at 0.1 percent, down from a revised 1.1 percent in the previous quarter.

“The United States and Europe are allowing a weaker currency of their own, because it would help their economic recovery,” said Hideaki Inoue, chief forex manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp.

“Under the environment where the yen would surge if Japan takes no action, market players are carefully watching what the authorities in Tokyo will do.”

A stronger yen poses a threat to the export sector driving Japan’s fragile economic rebound.

Some dealers fear that the dollar could continue to slide below its all-time-low of 79.75 yen as investors stay focused on uncertain U.S. economi

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Last week, new government data revealed that the number of people over the age of 65 is set to continue growing to almost a quarter of the population in 20 years time. Now, a new report from AXA, the financial protection provider, warns that today’s pensioners are being hit by escalating money worries that severely affect mental and physical health, with the worse afflicted suffering from ‘Money Sickness Syndrome’.

The report suggests that the while nation as a whole is suffering the health fallout of worrying about how to cope with the cost of living, everyday bills and debt, the link between wallet and health is no clearer than among pensioners.

It shows that some nine million pensioners in the UK are enduring the harsh effects of financial worries in their later years as they face symptoms of finance-related stress including anxiety (43%), lack of concentration (22%), insomnia (24%) and feeling depressed (21%). And a

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