KATHMANDU: While celebrating its fifth anniversary, Nepal Society of Cooperatives Journalist (CJAN) conferred ‘Cooperatives Journalism National Award-2015’ on Republica Daily’s journalist Sagar Ghimire on Saturday. CJAN said it felicitated Ghimire for in-depth reporting and outstanding writing on the cooperatives sector. Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Shankar Prasad Adhikari handed over the award to Ghimire. Ghimire has been associated with Republica since 2013. He reports and writes on banking, financial, cooperatives, labour and foreign employment issues. — HNS

US jobless rate falls

WASHINGTON: US unemployment fell to a seven-year low of 5.1 per cent last month, but hiring slowed — a mixed bag of news that offers few clues to whether the Federal Reserve will raise rock-bottom interest rates later this month. The Labour Department report, issued on Friday, was closely watched because it will be the last snapshot of the job market before the Fed meets in two weeks. And overall, it painted a picture of an economy growing at a modest but steady pace seven years after the Great Recession. But it wasn’t the unambiguous signal many on Wall Street were hoping for. The unemployment rate fell from 5.3 per cent in July to its lowest point since 2008 and is now at a level Fed officials say is consistent with a healthy economy. But employers added a moderate 173,000 jobs in August. — AP

Nomura, RBS liability

NEW YORK: Nomura Holdings Inc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) have agreed to pay up to $33 million (£21.8 million) on top of $806 million that a US judge ordered them to pay for making false statements in selling mortgage-backed securities. The agreement with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) was disclosed in court papers filed on Friday in Manhattan federal court and covers legal costs the regulator incurred taking the banks to trial earlier this year. The FHFA had sued the banks in its role as conservator for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which had bought $2 billion in securities from them ahead of the 2008 financial crisis. US District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan in May found Nomura, the securities’ sponsor, and RBS, an underwriter on some of them, liable. Cote awarded $806 million to the FHFA and also awarded the regulator its costs and attorneys fees, sums that Friday’s agreement covers. — Reuters

Boeing sticks to plans

NEW YORK: Boeing Co said on Friday it is sticking to current production plans for its 747 jumbo jet despite a cancelled order that left no net new orders for the plane in 20 months. Nippon Cargo Airlines Ltd, a unit of Nippon Yusen, cancelled orders for four 747 freighters on September 1, Boeing said, leaving no net new orders from this year or last. Boeing now has just 25 firm 747 orders, equal to about two years of production, for the $379 million jumbo. — Reuters