Jose C Noyola

Off to college? It can be a bit scary, especially if you don't know anyone at the school you plan to attend. Still, take heart; things could be worse. Girls and boys of the Okiek tribe of Kenya are ritually circumcised or excised when they're 14-16 years old. They then cover themselves in clay and

Sembcorp Industries Ltd. (U96.SG) Friday said its second-quarter net profit rose 9% from a year earlier, driven by strong performance in its energy and water utilities businesses.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (TEL.PH) saw a lower core net profit in the first half of the year, chairman of the country's largest telecommunications firm by sales said Friday.

Indian consumer goods maker Marico Ltd. (531642.BY) Friday said first-quarter consolidated net profit rose 46% from a year earlier, helped by a jump in non-operating income.

Singapore Airlines Ltd. (C6L.SG) said Friday its unit SilkAir plans to buy 54 aircraft from Boeing Co. (BA) valued at US$4.9 billion on list prices and has an option to increase the order by 14 jets.

Brilliance China Automotive Holdings (1114.HK), which has a car-making venture with Germany's BMW AG in China, said Friday it plans to form an auto-financing joint venture with Spain's CaixaBank SA (CAIXY) and Hong Kong's Bank of East Asia Ltd. (0023.HK).

The volume of retail sales in the euro zone rose for the second straight month in June, although that is unlikely to continue in the face of rising unemployment and weakening consumer confidence.

Natural gas output at Russian producer OAO Novatek (NVTK.RS) could increase by 7%-11% in this year, Interfax quoted the company's chief executive as saying Friday.

Cnooc Ltd. (CEO), China's largest offshore oil producer, said Friday that its Yacheng 13-4 natural gas field has begun production and will reach peak output of 0.35 billion cubic meters a year by 2013.