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The Bank of Japan will likely expand its purchase of Japanese real estate investment trusts (J-REITs) beyond its buying scheme announced earlier this year as part of the central bank's hyper easing steps, the Nikkei business daily said on Saturday. _0"> The BOJ said in April that it would boost the balance of its J-REITs holding by 30 billion yen ($317.18 million) a year, and forecast 140 billion yen in holding for the end of 2013.   The central bank's aggressive buying, however, has already boosted the balance of its J-REITs holding closer to the 140 billion yen level, triggering a decline in the J-REITs market amid worries that the bank's buying spree will soon lose steam. The Nikkei said, without citing sources, that the BOJ is now expected to continue purchasing J-REITs so that the balance of the central bank's holding at the end of the year will likely exceed the 140 billion yen mark by up to 10 billion yen. The Tokyo Stock Market's J-REITs subi

Anglo American Platinum ( id="symbol_AMSJ.J_0"> AMSJ.J ) said on Saturday operations at its Thembelani mine in South Africa were back to normal after a "group of employees" on Friday prevented 2,400 workers from going above ground. _0"> "The situation at the mine is normal, people came above ground yesterday evening," Amplats spokeswoman Mpumi Sithole said. The industrial action followed the dismissal of four union shop stewards for "inappropriate behavior".   (Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday called on the European Central Bank to create a cheap funding scheme for small businesses, mirroring those used by authorities outside the euro zone to try and get credit flowing via banks. _0"> Rajoy, who has previously urged the ECB to change its collateral rules to help smaller companies access financing at better conditions, said the ECB could emulate plans such as a Bank of England scheme.   The British central bank launched a 'Funding for Lending' scheme in mid-2012 aimed at encouraging banks to give credit by providing them with cheap financing. "I would like the ECB to act like other central banks, to do as the Bank of England has done - giving cheap loans to financial entities so that these financial entities can lend at cheaper rates to small and medium-sized companies," Rajoy said at an event in Tarragona, northern Spain . Small companies in southern Europe are having to pay higher rates for fi

Tesco, the world's No. 3 retailer, has stopped sourcing clothes from a factory in Bangladesh after discovering serious problems with the safety of the site, the company said on Saturday. _0"> The move follows a survey the British-based supermarket chain conducted in the wake of the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex in Dhaka in April that killed 1,129 people.   "A structural survey of a site we source from in Bangladesh, owned by Liberty Fashions, has revealed serious problems with the safety of one of the buildings," Tesco said in a statement. Mozammel Huq, the owner of Dhaka-based garment maker Liberty Fashion, told Reuters that the building, in an industrial zone near Dhaka, met the required building codes. "I fully followed the building code, so the question does not arise that it is an unsafe building," Huq told Reuters by phone on Saturday. "The building is almost new - one phase I built only five years ago and the other one eig

Aetna Inc ( id="symbol_AET.N_0"> AET.N ) said on Saturday it has notified California's insurance regulator that it plans to stop selling health policies to individual consumers in the state at the end of 2013. _0"> The company will continue to offer health insurance to employers and Medicare beneficiaries in California, as well as dental and life-insurance products, Aetna spokeswoman Anjie Coplin told Reuters. But people with individual health coverage with Aetna will have to find alternative coverage by year's end. Aetna had informed California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones of its decision to exit the market, Coplin said, but it was still in the process of notifying members and brokers.   The move comes as California, the country's most populous state, prepares for the fall launch of a state health exchange authorized by President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. The exchange establishes new standards for health insurance products sold

Wal-Mart Stores Inc ( id="symbol_WMT.N_0"> WMT.N ) said on Saturday that its board has appointed James Cash Jr. as lead independent director. _0"> Cash, who joined Wal-Mart's board in 2006, replaces James Breyer, who served on the board for more than a decade, but was prevented from running again this year under the company's rules of corporate governance. A former faculty member at Harvard Business School, Cash is also a member of Wal-Mart's audit committee. That committee's oversight has been criticized amid allegations that Wal-Mart de Mexico bribed officials to expand quickly in Mexico and that Wal-Mart executives squelched an internal probe into those charges.   Earlier this month, Wal-Mart shareholders approved the election of all 14 director nominees at the company's annual meeting, despite the ongoing fallout from the scandal. (Reporting by James B. Kelleher; editing by Gunna Dickson)

Google Inc has launched a small network of balloons over the Southern Hemisphere in an experiment it hopes could bring reliable Internet access to the world's most remote regions, the company said late Friday. _0"> The pilot program, Project Loon, took off this month from New Zealand's South Island, using solar-powered, high-altitude balloons that ride the wind about 12.5 miles - twice as high as airplanes - above the ground, Google said.   Like the Internet search engine for which Google is best known, Project Loon uses algorithms to determine where the balloons need to go, then moves them into winds blowing in the desired direction, the company said. By moving with the wind, the balloons form a network of airborne hot spots that can deliver Internet access over a broad area at speeds comparable to 3G using open radio frequency bands, Google said. To connect to the balloon network, a special Internet antenna is attached to buildings below. The Mountain View, Cal