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The Standard & Poor’s rating was issued on 22 February 2007. On this date Standard & Poor’s revised the Bank’s rating to AA from AA-.
There have been no other changes in the credit rating issued in the past two years ended 31 March 2008. The rating is not subject to any
The Moody’s Investors Service was issued on 4 May 2007. On this date Moody’s Investors Service revised the Bank’s rating to Aa2 from
Aa3. There have been no other changes in the credit rating issued in the past two years ended 31 March 2008. The rating is not subject
to any qualifications.
Fitch Ratings was formally engaged by the Bank on 18 March 2008 to provide credit rating services. Previously Fitch Ratings had rated the
Bank on an unsolicited basis as AA- and this rating was last affirmed on 26 October 2007. The rating is not subject to any qualifications.
Our firm has provided other services to the Banking Group in relation to other audit related services. Partners and employees of our firm
may also deal with the Banking Group on normal terms within the ordinary course of trading activities of the business of the Banking
Group. There are, however, certain restrictions on borrowings which the partners and employees of our firm can have with the Banking
Group. These matters have not impaired our independence as auditors of the Banking Group. The firm has no other relationship with, or
interest in, the Banking Group.
Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald.

newsstore.smh.com.au

May 7 (Bloomberg) — News Corp., the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch, may report higher third-quarter sales today on increased advertising revenue from Fox Broadcasting's “American Idol'' and February's Super Bowl.
Sales probably rose 14 percent to $8.61 billion, the average of 15 analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Net income may have gained 2.2 percent to $890.5 million, or 33 cents a share, based on the average projection of 10 analysts.
Fox television sales probably climbed 17 percent in the quarter ended March 31, UBS AG analyst Michael Morris said. The Super Bowl broadcast drew a record audience while “Idol,'' TV's most-watched show, capitalized on a 100-day writers strike to obtain record ad prices. The live singing competition doesn't rely on scripts in the same way as sitcoms and dramas.
“Where most broadcast networks had less inventory, News Corp., with strong new programming, was better positioned for growth,'' said Morris, who is based in New York and has recommended buying the stock since becoming UBS's lead analyst on News Corp. last April.
News Corp. plans to release the results at 4 p.m. New York time and hold a 4:30 p.m. conference call. Morris wants Murdoch, News Corp.'s chairman and chief executive officer, to discuss his strategy for Fox Interactive Media, owner of the MySpace social-networking unit, and for satellite broadcaster Sky Italia.
“We're looking for insight on what's going on at those businesses and why we should be optimistic about growth going forward,'' Morris said.
News Corp. spokeswoman Teri Everett declined to comment.
News Corp.'s earnings growth was probably dragged down by a 35 percent drop in profit at the film unit and losses at British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc, in which News Corp. has a 39 percent stake, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Michael Nathanson in New York.

bloomberg.com

Durable goods are just that: hard goods; they don’t wear out quickly and can be used over and over again for at least several years. Think your car, TV, refrigerator or computer. These are certainly not disposable, one-time use items.
The opposite of a hard good is (surprise!) a soft good or, if you like, a non-durable good. These are products you use once, like your lunch at McDonald’s, the gas in your car and the ugly sweater your grandmother bought you for your birthday. These items have an intended lifespan short of three years, or are consumed immediately.
Investors pay attention to the monthly durable orders report released by the Commerce Department around the end of each month. When durable goods are strong, it means that U.S. manufacturing is humming along, though economists tend to parse the numbers pretty closely. Big-ticket items can skew the overall results, since an order for, say, 75 Boeing 747s has a bigger impact than 75 iPods. Luckily, the data lets economists break down the sectors.
May 12, 2008 (SmarTrend� via COMTEX News Network) —-The DJIA is expected to rally this morning in an effort to brake its retreat that started last Tuesday; but the index is still anticipated to correct down further this week, perhaps touching 12,500 before finding a base from which to climb again for its hurdle at 13,000.
SmarTrend(R) uptrends to downtrends chalked up a second day in a row of declines at 24:63, and the Trend Ratio responded by declining a point. This was offset by a slight increase in the IBDI. Thus the net effect by the intermediate-term trend on the DJIA was fairly neutral. However, the long-term trend remains in a downward-pointing mode. Combining all of these investor-trend factors, the outlook for the market in general continues to be soft, not positioned to provide much buoying to the near-term trends.

foxbusiness.com

I was struck by a report in The Wall Street Journal today that officials at International Lease Finance Corp. are contemplating a split with American International Group. Wow! ILFC is the world’s largest buyer of commercial aircraft and one of AIG’s most profitable units. A split would—and should—be big news.
But what exactly is the news here? ILFC Chairman and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy, never one to shy away from speaking his mind, is quoted as talking about the need to “evaluate what the appropriate relationship is” — from an interview he did in March.
Now, there are “two people familiar with the situation” (one of whom could be the irate ILFC chief, under cloak of anonymity) talking about how AIG’s poor performance last quarter may prompt officials to push for changes.
Nothing concrete emerges from the piece, which leaves me wondering if ILFC has another agenda in putting pressure on its parent right now. Certainly, cuts in AIG’s credit rating cause significant pain for its capital-intensive subsidiary. And, as a major AIG shareholder himself, Udvar-Hazy can’t be happy with the performance of AIG chief Martin Sullivan. With an annual meeting this week, is ‘news’ of a possible ILFC split from AIG one more way to put heat on the increasingly maligned AIG chief?

businessweek.com

Answer: Those bombers come from the following countries, with their number in parenthesis following the country: Saudi Arabia (44), Italy (8), Kuwait (7), Iraq (7), Syria (6), Libya (3), Jordan (3), Belgium (2), France (2), Spain (2), Egypt (2), Lebanon (1), Tunisia (1), Morocco (1), Britain (2) and unknown (11). Three of the known bombers are female. This list appears in Appendix 2 of the book by Mohammed M. Hafex entitled Suicide Bombers in Iraq: The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom (2007). The appendix also contains the names of all suicide bombers.
Question: Does Sen. John McCain’s proposal of an international organization of democracies make sense?
Answer: It does, as the U.N., as almost everyone agrees and as many have pointed out, either does nothing or acts against the interests of the U.S. It favors dictators and violators of human rights, and goes out of its way to condemn democracies and allies of the U.S. The U.N. has condemned Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, which gives its Arab population more rights than any Arab country in the area, more times than any of the leading dictatorships and human rights violators.
The latest U.N. outrage is appointing someone as special investigator on Israeli actions in the territories, who is supposed to be impartial, objective, and independent, but who has already compared Israel to the Nazis, concluded it has genocidal intentions, and thinks suicide bombings are a valid method of “struggle.” If Adolph Eichman were still alive, the U.N. would have surely made him chairman of its Human Rights Council. Remember the old Human Rights Commission had a representative from Libya, a leading human rights violator, as chairman. The U.N. is too far gone to be salvaged, so a new organization is needed to work in its place.
Question: What are the best digital cameras for beginners?

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