Student Finance Guide Launched

In time for the start of the new academic year comes a new book from the Complete University Guide experts on how students can manage their money. Published in association with UCAS, The Complete University Guide to Student Finance explains the intricacies of the student funding system, including loans, bursaries, grants and tuition fees – and gives useful advice on how students can draw up their own budgets.

Covering accommodation, food, travel and study costs, it describes how students can fund their time at university – and, most important of all, it contains a complete list of bursaries and scholarships in higher education. This is a book that will be of especial help to those in the final year of school who are preparing to apply to university. That’s because of its list of bursaries that enables students to compare one university with another. But it will also be valuable for freshers starting out on a three- or four-year degree.

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Gold bounces back to around $1,010

Spot gold rallied to trade around $1,010 on Thursday as the precious metal continued to look to the dollar for direction, though a sense of caution prevailed due to the threat of heavy liquidation of futures positions.

Spot gold -- which fell in the previous session after the dollar turned higher -- is currently down about 1 percent from the 18-month high of $1,023.85 hit last Thursday.

"The trend of a strong euro and weak dollar is what's keeping the price of gold above $1,000," said Shuji Sugata, a manager at the Mitsubishi Corp Futures & Securities research team.

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Peru miner signs deal to control Chile gold site

Peru gold miner Minera IRL Ltd said on Wednesday it has signed a deal to acquire control of the La Falda porphyry in the Maricunga gold belt of northern Chile, where it plans to begin drilling by the close of 2009.
The London- and Lima-listed company owns the small Corihuarmi mine in southern Peru, which produced some 52,000 ounces of gold in 2008.

Minera IRL (MIRL.L) (IRL.LM) said it inked the deal to operate the La Falda project with Catalina Resources.

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Independent closes in on €200 million debt deal

Embattled newspaper publisher Independent News & Media (IN&M) this afternoon confirmed that it was close to unveiling a financial rescue that would allow the owner of The Independent to pay off an overdue €200 milion bond.

The bailout means that Sir Anthony O'Reilly, the company's controlling shareholder, will see his 28.5 per cent stake diluted by half because bondholders will receive a stake understood to be about 45 per cent of the reconstructed company.

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Fisker Gets $529 Millon Loan

US hybrid car startup Fisker Automotive has been awarded a 529 million USD loan from the US Department of Energy. The loan is conditional, and will be used by Fisker to develop the two lines of plug-in hybrids currently on the company's drawing board.

Initially, the much-publicised Karma project will receive 169.3 million USD of the loan to help with final pre-manufacture development ahead of the luxury car's scheduled launch next summer. This part of the loan is also earmarked for developing the tools and equipment needed for future production and models.

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World Bank approves USD 4.3 billion loan to India

The World Bank will provide USD 4.3-billion loan for 4 Indian projects, including USD 2 billion for recapitalisation of state-owned banks.

The assistance would "bolster infrastructure investments, enable public sector banks to expand credit and strengthen power transmission networks to meet the growing demand," said a World Bank release.

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Home buyers defy seasonal dip in housing market as new home loans jump 81pc

Home buyers defied the seasonal dip in the housing market as figures suggested the number of mortgages approved for those buying a new home jumped by more than 80 per cent.

A total of 38,000 loans for house purchase were approved in August, up 81 per cent compared with a year ago, according to the British Bankers’ Association.

The sharp rise comes on the back of significantly low levels of lending last year during the banking crisis.

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