Toyota beats GM for first time in global sales
Toyota Motor Corp has now become the world's top auto seller in the first three months of the year, beating General Motors Corp. for the first time.

Toyota sold 2.35 million vehicles globally in the January-March quarter higher than the 2.26 million vehicles GM sold during the same period. The results mark the first time Toyota has beat GM in global sales on a quarterly basis.

While the figures represent only quarterly sales results, they foreshadow a tough challenge for GM as it fights to hold onto its title as the world's top automaker - a claim usually staked on annual production figures.

Toyota has been gaining steadily on GM in sales in recent years, with analysts predicting earlier that the Japanese company would takeover GM in 2007.

In 2006, Toyota's global production surged 10 per cent to 9.018 million vehicles, while GM and its group automakers produced 9.18 million vehicles worldwide - a gap of about 162,000.
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Rural poverty in Pakistan rising: WB report
Islamabad: Rural poverty in Pakistan is rising due to insufficient growth in the agricultural sector, a World Bank study said.

The report added that this was despite agricultural growth, rural incomes, rural poverty and social welfare indicators all showing marked improvements in recent years. The report said around 35 million people in rural areas remain poor, representing about 80 per cent of Pakistan's poor.

The report also said that an unequal distribution of land and water was a major obstacle in reducing rural poverty despite high agricultural output.

Overall, agriculture accounts for about 40 per cent of rural household incomes in Pakistan. The poorest 40 per cent of rural households get only 30 per cent of their incomes from agriculture.
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