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Brait’s share price has dropped over 9% after the group announced it is to raise R6bn through a fully underwritten rights issue.

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Beijing, China (AHN) – China announced its intent to tighten its monetary policy in 2011 in a shift from relatively loose to a prudent stance, a sign that it might hike interest rates.

In 2008, China responded to the global economic policy by loosening its then tight monetary policy. Now, with China’s economy humming, China has a growing problem with inflation while liquidity from abroad grows.

Annualized inflation is running at around 4.4 percent, which is above the target 3 percent and also a 25-year high.

Food price increases have fueled most of the inflation. However, China’s communist government leadership is increasingly worried over the prospect of price bubbles appearing in various market segments.

In the meantime, China’s experienced annual growth in its gross domestic product of 9.6 percent for the third quarter of the year, far outpacing economic growth of most nations.

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The increase in South Africa’s consumer price index (CPI) was 3.4% in October compared to a year ago, Statistics South Africa says.

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London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – With winter fast approaching, the British government encouraged over the weekend energy companies to stockpile on gas. Their aim is to ensure that Britain won’t run out of fuel similar to what happened in 2008 when the rest of Europe froze because of Russia’s dispute with Ukraine.

The advise also seeks to protect Britons from too much gas price increase. Over the weekend, consumer groups warned of larger utility bills for winter after Scottish and Southern Energy, the second largest gas supplier in the United Kingdom, announced a 9.4 percent increase beginning Dec. 1.

Scottish price hike would add another $100.50 (67 pounds) to the $1,800 (1,200 pounds) average yearly gas bill of its 3.6 million customers.

Scottish explained the gas price increase to a 25 percent rise in wholesale gas prices and it could no longer afford to absorb the added cost.

The coalition government will introduce an Energy Security and Green Economy Bill which will grant incentives to energy firms to stockpile gas and prevent being charged higher gas price when Britain runs out of fuel.

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Mecca, Saudi Arabia (TML) – A steep rise in Hajj pilgrimage package prices is making the ritual trip to Saudi Arabia’s holy cities of Mecca and Medina less affordable for the Muslim masses.

The Hajj pilgrimage is expected to begin on November 14, lasting four days.

Last year’s swine flu pandemic, as well as restrictions imposed on pilgrims by Saudi authorities and other countries, had decreased demand causing a drop in hotel prices, the UAE daily The National reported. Some 1.6 million foreign pilgrims arrived in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj last year, down from over 1.7 million the year before.

This year, however, demand is back up and so are prices. Some have risen by as much as 50 percent.

“Hajj is like any other form of tourism,” ‘Ali ‘Abd Al-Rahman Al-Mazyad, a Riyadh- based economics journalist for A-Sharq Al-Awsat daily, told The Media Line. “You can travel five stars or you can travel two stars. Those who can’t afford the trip simply shouldn’t come.”

Al-Mazyad said that modest accommodations in a shared bedroom with four or five beds could cost as little as $15 a night.

“Zakat [charity] and Hajj are two commandments in Islam that are entirely dependent on a person’s economic situation,” Al-Mazyad added. “Those who lack the means are exempt.”

Al-Mazyad said that during the pilgrimage, private Saudi donors provide free food and drink for needy pilgrims.

“You can’t really tell who’s rich and who isn’t, though,” he added.

Abu-Fayez, a Ramallah-based owner of a tourist agency organizing Hajj pilgrimages, said that Palestinians must apply to the Ministry of Endowments and enter a raffle to win the travel permit. The Ministry also fixes the price of the travel package, regulating prices.

An official at the Palestinian Hajj Authority told The Media Line that the price of the Hajj package was fixed this year by the government at 1,660 Jordanian Dinars ($2,345) for those traveling by land, with airfare costing an additional $620. Last year, the official price stood at 1,380 Jordanian Dinars ($1,945), 21 percent less.

“The reason for the price increase is supply and demand of hotel beds in Saudi Arabia,” the official said.

Suhail Khadim, a travel agent at Al-Hidaayah, a UK agency based in Birmingham, said that prices actually fell in the UK by around 500 pounds this year, but were still high, with a three-star package costing 3,800 pounds ($6,000) and a five-star package costing 5,000 pounds ($7,860). Khadim said the price reduction was a reaction to last year’s financial crisis and the flu pandemic.

“Most people who travel with us are professionals – doctors, lawyers – so they can afford the fare,” he told The Media Line. “Smaller local agencies provide cheaper packages for as little as 2,000 pounds ($3,150), but then you are located further from the Al-Haram mosque, and may have to share a room with 10 people.”

UAE news site Emirates 24/7 News predicted a price increase of 15 percent this year due to rising bus fares and hotel prices.

Five-star Hajj packages include services such as private jets, gourmet restaurants, and private facilities for women during some of the rituals.

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Rome, Italy (AHN) – United Nations officials warned of a major new world food crisis Friday at an emergency meeting over rising international food prices

The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called the meeting in Rome to discuss the looming crisis. FAO officials blame recent environmental disasters as well as rampant speculative trading on commodity futures markets by investors.

Although food prices have not risen as much as they did during the 2008 food crisis, FAO officials were concerned.

“The FAO has recognized a variety of drivers behind food price spikes, such as drought, energy prices and trade restrictions; however, the impact of crude oil prices on food inflation cuts across all national boundaries and has a disproportionate impact on food prices,” said Bliss Baker, a spokesperson for Global Renewable Fuels Alliance.

“As long as we are dependent on crude oil for our primary source of energy, we will continue to see food prices climb as crude oil prices climb,” Baker added.

However, other forces are at work to increase food prices, according to the U.N.’s special rapporteur on food, Olivier De Schutter. In a paper released earlier this week, De Schutter said that as other investments turned sour and lost investor interest–including overvalued asset backed securitization investments–investors looking for profits flocked to invest in food commodity futures because everyone must eat.

“Beginning at the end of 2001, food commodities derivatives markets, and commodities indexes in particular began to see an influx of non-traditional investors, such as pension funds, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, and large banks that packaged and dealt the commodity index instruments,” De Schutter wrote. “The reason for this was simply because other markets dried up one by one: the dotcoms vanished at the end of 2001, the stock market soon after, and the U.S. housing market in August 2007.”

“As each bubble burst, these large institutional investors moved into other markets, each traditionally considered more stable than the last. Strong similarities can be seen between the price behavior of food commodities and other refuge values, such as gold. As the European Commission notes, the prices of both had been largely stable, began to rise slowly in 2005, and accelerated sharply in August 2007, when the subprime crisis hit. Similar behavior obtained in oil markets, which hit the $100 per barrel mark in February 2008 and peaked in June 2008, only to fall back subsequently,” De Schutter said.

De Schutter calls for regulation of the food commodity markets in a report titled “Food Commodities Speculation and Food Price Crises, Regulation to reduce the risks of price volatility.” The full report is available at: srfood.org/images/stories/pdf/otherdocuments/20102309_briefing_note_02_en.pdf

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