The company has alluded to international expansion aspirations recently."Imperial has sought to diversify from its core markets of Britain and Germany, where it has suffered tough trading as higher taxes on tobacco have taken their toll. The shares fell on the news and closed down 8p at 1,805p.Davidoff is forecast to achieve sales volumes of 14 billion this year, up from 13 billion last year, representing 6.2 per cent of group volumes. We have achieved considerable success with Davidoff cigarettes, increasing global volumes in the last four years."Explaining why the company had spent a hefty sum on a trademark for cigarettes it already produces, Mr Davis pointed to the global growth potential of the brand and the likelihood of "significant" increases in future royalty rates. It gives the company full autonomy on marketing the brand and allows it to further develop the premium end of its product portfolio, especially in Asia where it has been particularly successful. Gareth Davis, the chief executive, said: "Davidoff is our key international strategic premium cigarette brand and an important growth driver for the business. Imperial Tobacco hinted at a new international expansion drive yesterday as it bought the Davidoff cigarette brand name from Germany's Tchibo Holding for €540m (£365m) in cash.

Halifax and Nationwide have said they see house prices rising 5 per cent this year, up from earlier forecasts of 3 per cent.Rics said: "Stronger market conditions reflect buoyancy in the economy and the stimulus provided by the August 2005 rate cut." But it sees growth slowing to 3 per cent in 2007 on the back of an expected series of rate rises. The world's fourth-largest tobacco group has been making Davidoff cigarettes - its key premium brand - under licence since its acquisition of Germany's Reemtsma in 2002. "If we are right in expecting at least one if not two more interest rate rises of 25 basis points, we believe the housing market will slow markedly next year.". This has ballooned since its low of two-and-a-half years in early 1996.Rics warned the biggest issue facing first-time buyers was now their ability to raise a deposit rather than the cost of paying down their mortgage.Rics is but the latest organisation to raise its house price forecast, which previously stood at 4 per cent for 2006. Compounding the financial headaches for first-time buyers, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors expects house prices to rise 7 per cent this year - nearly twice as fast as its previous prediction. In a new study, the estate agents' industry body calculated it would take a couple buying their first home nearly seven-and-a-half years to save up the £29,200 needed to cover the deposit and associated costs if they put aside 10 per cent of their income each year.

Couples seeking to take their first step on the UK property ladder must first save three-quarters of their joint take-home pay, a survey reveals today that shows the cost of housing has rocketed to its highest point in more than two decades. "You have to have some way of having your drugs taken up before, or without, getting broken down [in the stomach],"hesaid. "Another challenge is getting a sufficient proportion of kangaroos to eat the bait.". "It's definitely a lot better than shooting kangaroos," said Simone Gray, a spokeswoman for Animal Liberation. "In our nation's capital, it certainly isn't appropriate to kill our national symbol."Local authorities in Canberra began funding research for a kangaroo pill after a decision to cull up to 800 kangaroos in 2004 caused widespread protests.Australia has an estimated 57 million kangaroos - three for every human - and farmers maintain that their population must be controlled to protect their crops and scarce water resources.Dan Fletcher, an ecologist working on the contraceptive, warned yesterday that the acidic content of kangaroos' stomachs could prove a stumbling block.

Now scientists appear to have found a way to stop kangaroos from procreating - by feeding them the contraceptive pill. Researchers at Newcastle University in New South Wales will soon begin lacing bait with a species-specific contraceptive in and around Australia's capital, Canberra, where the local eastern grey kangaroo population has begun encroaching on human habitats looking for food.The scheme has been welcomed by animal rights groups who have campaigned against widespread culling of kangaroos, which are usually shot dead by marksmen and farmers. New Zealand officials were to meet later today with diplomats in Jerusalem and Palestinian Authority officials to analyse the request and the video for new leads.. Australia's kangaroo population has risen sharply in recent years, resulting in the marsupials causing 70 per cent of animal-related car accidents. Rider said the group's demand for the release of Muslim prisoners held by the United States would not be met "The United States .. stated ... it does not negotiate with militant groups or terrorists and it's called very firmly for the release of the two hostages," he said.

"But we'll be working with Palestinian authorities and others to try to work out who they are and identify those who are responsible." Palestinian security officials said they were analyzing the video and had turned to Islamic experts for help in deciphering the poetic verses from the Koran in the statement. Rider said it was still "early days" in the hunt for the men but that the video "gives us, after nine days, an opportunity now to take the process forward a bit." He said authorities searching for the pair knew nothing about the Holy Jihad Brigades "It's a new name to everybody I've talked to," he said. "She was so pleased to see Olaf there, on TV, talking to her," he said. Rider said the men appeared to have been fed, given clothes and access to a shower and toilet facilities, acts that fit the pattern of previous kidnappings in Gaza that usually ended in the captives' release and were in contrast with militant kidnappings in Iraq, which often ended in the victims' death. New Zealand senior diplomat Peter Rider said that after nine days without contact from the men, "it is so great to see Olaf there alive, well, looking like they're in reasonable health and well looked after." Wiig's wife, BBC journalist Anita McNaught, "was delighted" at news of the videotape's release, he told New Zealand's National Radio from Jerusalem.