Bonds can help meet short-term goals

You're saving up for a near-term financial goal like a housedownpayment or college tuition for a youngster. Or perhaps yousimply want to establish a rainy-day account.

In such cases, you certainly would want to stick with Treasurybills, money market mutual funds and other ultrasafe investments,right?

Not necessarily.It might make more sense to move up a notch on the risk scale anduse short-term bond mutual funds for at least part of your savingsand emergency reserves. The higher yields on these products likelywill more than offset their moderately greater perils, especially ifyou plan to retain your account for at least a year or so."Investors pay too much for …

Azeri top diplomat meets Oman`s new ambassador.

Baku, October 11 (AzerTAc). Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met Monday Oman`s new ambassador Sayyid Qais bin Salim bin Ali al Said with residence in Ankara. The ambassador gave a copy of his credentials to minister Mammadyarov, expressing satisfaction with his appointment. The …

Bird flu prompts stockpile alert.(Main)

Byline: Associated Press

KUBU SIMBELANG, Indonesia - The biggest case yet of humans infecting others with bird flu prompted the World Health Organization to put Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG - the maker of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu - on alert for possible shipment of the global stockpile for the first time, officials said Saturday.

No further action on the emergency supply was expected for now, according to the U.N. health agency, which called the alert part of its standard operating procedure when a case arises like that in Indonesia. Meanwhile, …

PROCTOR'S TOO DISPLAYING VIDEO.(Show)

A video installation piece created by John Sturgeon and Aysha Quinn, entitled "Chariot Chamber," will be on view in the lobby of …

Flawed Soyuz landing caused by failed separation of module, Russian official says

Last month's botched landing of a Russian capsule returning from the international space station was caused when an equipment module failed to separate from the capsule on time, a Russian space official said Wednesday.

The Soyuz TMA-11 craft carrying U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and South Korean bioengineer Yi So-yeon landed hundreds of kilometers off course when it bounced onto the steppes of northern Kazakhstan April 11.

The three were subjected to severe G-forces, communications were disrupted and Russian officials said they had been in serious danger during the descent.

Alexei Krasnov, who heads Russia's …

pounds3.1m centre at beach on track for autumn opening Building work is nearing completion at a landmark centre for people withlearning disabilities.

Building work is nearing completion at a landmark centre forpeople withlearning disabilities.

Construction on the Beach Boulevard project started just ninemonths ago.

And now staff from city charity Inspire can't wait to move intotheir new pounds3.1 million premises.

Inspire's marketing director Debbie Rennie said: "We are allreally looking forward to getting in there now.

"The staff have been down for a site visit and have seen wherethey are going to sit so it all feels very real."

Plans for the centre, to help people with learning disabilities tofind work, were first mooted in 2003.

The centre, the first of its kind in Scotland, is …

Stock watch.(Statistical table)

SPOTLIGHT

Waste Industries USA shares increased 27% in three months, driven by an agreement to take the company private.

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 HIGHEST PRICE/EARNINGS RATIOS                                 P/E        12/28/07  52-week Company                        ratio (3)  price     range  R.H. Donnelley                 408.8      $36.79    $33.70-84.49 Red Hat                         57.1       21.12     18.04-25.25 Tekelec                         56.7       12.48     10.96-16.29 Tanger Factory Outlet Centers   55.4       37.66     32.32-44.43 Pozen                           45.7       12.33      8.29-19.75 Cree                            45.7       27.85 …