00British police have questioned the three Pakistani cricketers embroiled in fixing claims, as the sport's governing body insisted the case was not the tip of a corruption iceberg in the game.

AFP Cricket's betting scandal allegations surrounding three Pakistan players could be the worst corruption case since that of South Africa's Hansie Cronje according the sport's governing body.

It wasa sign thatadangerous rift between Pakistan and the rest of the cricket world had opened,The show of defiance by Wajid Hasan, the high commissioner to Britain and a close adviser to President Asif Ali Zardari, brought an ominous turn to the corruption scandal because it undermined confidence Pakistan would try to stamp out match-fixing.

India's batting great Sachin Tendulkar on Friday called for a "thorough" investigation into Pakistan's spot-fixing scandal, saying the guilty should be punished.

Britain's leading share index hit a near four-month closing high on Friday after a better-than-expected US jobs report eased concerns of the world's largest economy slipping back to another recession.

AP US stocks extended their rally on Friday after a relatively encouraging report on the jobs market lifted hopes about the pace of economic growth.

But it was restrained by profit-taking in financials ahead of US non-farm payrolls data and Monday's Labour Day holiday in the US and Canada.

Wall Street closed a stellar week on Friday after recent economic data, including a stronger-than-expected labor market report, bolstered optimism that the economy would not fall back into recession.

Brazil's Petrobras has unveiled one of the world's biggest share offerings, a sale of up to $US64 billion ($70.

AFP Brazil's Petrobras has unveiled one of the world's biggest share offerings, a sale of up to $US64 billion ($A70.

Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras on Friday unveiled a huge share offering which could raise 64 billion US dollars to help finance new exploration projects in the country.

Brazil's Petrobras unveiled one of the world's biggest share offerings on Friday, a sale of up to 64 billion US dollars in new stock to finance oil exploration aimed at turning Brazil into one of the world's top 21st century oil exporters.

JEREMY MORTON and Ian Shippen are southern NSW irrigation farmers trying to use the water market to sell out and get off the drip.

INTERNATIONAL investors are circling Australia's water market, looking to snap up hundreds of millions of dollars worth of our most precious national resource, with almost no government limit on how much they can buy.

comments All very interesting but in the end meaningless because 1) none of these pre election costings will amount o a hill of beans in 6 months, let alone three years and 2) does anyone seriously believe Labor will be in surplus in 3 years time? It happened only once in the Hawke Keating era and then you had people like Peter Walshe in charge.

The Socceroos have begun life under new coach Holger Osieck with an entertaining 0-0 friendly draw against an understrength Switzerland in St Gallen.

Her standing with voters has sunk to such an unprecedented low that more people would be willing to mine uranium than support her.

Port appoints few coaches, they stay for long periods and all but one since the "outsider" Fos Williams arrived at Alberton in 1950 have taken the club to a Grand Final.

AFP Police in Mozambique have fired rubber bullets and live ammunition to quell more demonstrations against rising food prices, and the death toll from the unrest has climbed to 10, with more than 440 injured.

IF, SOMEWHERE in this world, there existed a handful of people who remained thankful for the NSW government this week, they might have been concentrated in the federal agencies responsible for the nation's biggest tax hunt.

He'd heard Campbell was a serial gold-digger and con-man - "as low as a snake's guts", as Mr Neander described the former policeman and ambulance officer yesterday.