Author: lbostgadmin
‘ts act on rice prices
HONG KONG, May 4, 2008 (AFP) – Rationing, subsidies, price-fixing cartels, export curbs — you name it, governments across the world are trying it out as they seek to shield their populations from the soaring price of rice.Wary of the political risk of millions of hungry people on their doorstep, some governments — notably in […]
Asian finance ministers mull creation of currency swap fund
MADRID, May 4, 2008 (AFP) – Asian nations are in talks over the creation of a multinational 80-billion-dollar (52-billion-euro) foreign exchange pool to be used in case of another regional financial crisis, Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga said Sunday in Spain. “We are negotiating in that direction,” he told reporters at the annual meeting of […]
” ahead of polls: finance ministry
MADRID, May 4, 2008 (AFP) – India’s inflation rate, which jumped to a more than three-year high last month, is a “big concern” for the government as it heads towards a general election due by May 2009, Indian Finance Secretary Subba Rao said Sunday in Spain.“I must say inflation has been a concern, inflation is […]
‘s budget airline grounded by lack of planes
May 4, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s state-run budget carrier has suspended operations indefinitely because of a lack of planes, an aviation official said Sunday.The budget airline, Mihin Lanka, has been dogged with financial trouble since it began commercial operations last April. “They (Mihin) don’t have an aircraft to fly passengers since the beginning of […]
Sri Lanka clashes claim 19: military
May 4, 2008 (AFP) – Heavy fighting in northern Sri Lanka killed at least 18 Tiger rebels and one soldier, the defence ministry said Sunday.Government troops battled the rebels in the Mannar district on Saturday and claimed to have killed 18 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres and wounded 10 guerrillas, the statement said. […]
Sri Lanka clashes claim 43: military
May 4, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka bombed a rebel storage facility on Sunday, while heavy fighting in the island’s north claimed the lives of at least 35 Tiger rebels and eight soldiers, the defence ministry said.Air force fighter jets dropped bombs over a rebel supply and storage facility in the guerrilla-controlled northern district of […]
Sri Lanka media watchdog slams govt, Tamil Tigers
May 03, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Free Media Movement (FMM) has said media freedom in the island remains under threat by both parties to the internal conflict, the government and the Tamil Tigers. In a World Press freedom day statement, the media watchdog urged an immediately halt to all threats, harassment, abductions and attacks […]
Microsoft and Yahoo in takeover talks: source
SAN FRANCISCO, May 2, 2008 (AFP) – Microsoft and Yahoo began takeover talks Friday with the US software giant open to raising its 44.6-billion-dollar bid for the struggling Internet pioneer, a source close to the situation told AFP. Yahoo and its unsolicited suitor are privately discussing the buyout bid after months of negotiating indirectly with […]
No US economic recovery this year: IMF chief
WASHINGTON, May 2, 2008 (AFP) – International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Friday that he does not see the US economy recovering from its current doldrums this year.Describing a US government labor report Friday that showed fewer than expected job losses as a “flash in the pan,” the IMF managing director said “the medium-term […]
‘s Krakatau Steel: reports
JAKARTA, May 3, 2008 (AFP) – India’s Tata Steel could bid for a stake in Indonesia’s largest steel maker PT Krakatau Steel, according to a report here Saturday.“Tata (Steel) has also expressed their interest in finding out more details in the Krakatau Steel privatisation,” the industry ministry’s director general for metal, Ansari Bukhari, told state-run […]
Bangladesh garment makers to sell cheap rice to workers
DHAKA, May 3, 2008 (AFP) – Bangladesh garment manufacturers on Saturday said they would distribute subsidised rice to thousands of some of the world’s lowest-paid workers to help them cope with sky-rocketing food prices.The announcement came after around 20,000 textile workers rioted in one of the main garment-making areas near the capital Dhaka last month, […]
Malaysia to give food stockpile priority over projects
KUALA LUMPUR, May 3, 2008 (AFP) – Malaysia’s prime minister said Saturday his government would delay non-essential projects and use funds to secure the country’s food supply amid spiralling global food prices. The government announced on Friday that it would spend 2.49 billion ringgit (778 million dollars) this year to boost food production as worldwide […]