Category: Other
Rat snacks can solve world food price crisis: Indian official
PATNA, August 13, 2008 (AFP) – Eating rats is the best way for rich and poor people to solve the global crisis of rising food prices, an Indian official said Wednesday as he unveiled his plan to put rodents on menus.Regular rat snacks would translate into fewer rodents eating precious grain stocks — 50 percent […]
Sri Lanka tea exporters want more money for marketing
Aug 13, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea exporters have called for more money to be spent to promote and market Ceylon tea and develop local brands.Tea exporters association chairman Jayantha Keragala said a greater part of the funds collected from the four rupees per kilo tea export cess should be allocated to exporters. If […]
Britain facing increased risk of recession: BoE governor
LONDON, August 13, 2008 (AFP) – The head of the Bank of England forecast on Wednesday that Britain faced increased risk of recession with economic growth set to slow further and inflation expected to spike.“It is bound to be the case there will be a quarter or two of negative growth,” BoE governor Mervyn King […]
Humpbacks doing better but porpoises face extinction
GENEVA, August 12, 2008 (AFP) – Two whale species, the humpback and the southern right, are less under threat from becoming extinct, a new study released on Tuesday showed.However, smaller cetaceans, including a species of porpoise, were facing a greater risk of extinction, said the study, which was carried out by the International Union for […]
Oil prices sink despite Georgian conflict
NEW YORK, August 11, 2008 (AFP) – Crude oil prices sank Monday as the market worried about weakening demand, particularly in the eurozone and in China, after Chinese oil imports fell sharply.New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, fell 75 cents to close at 114.45 dollars a barrel. The contract hit an […]
Dollar gains against Euro, commodities
TOKYO, August 12, 2008 (AFP) – The euro languished at six-month lows against the dollar in Asian trade on Tuesday as traders continued to focus on the deteriorating health of the eurozone economies, dealers said. Falling oil prices also helped prop up the greenback, they said. The euro was at 1.4898 dollars in Tokyo morning […]
‘s wholesale inflation hits 7.1-pct in July 2008
TOKYO, August 12, 2008 (AFP) – Japanese wholesale inflation hit a 27-year high of 7.1 percent in July on soaring commodity costs, the central bank said Tuesday, adding to gloom about the health of Asia’s largest economy. The fresh signs of pain in the manufacturing sector came on the eve of figures expected to show […]
Standard Chartered bank shakes off credit crunch as profits soar
Aug 12, 2008 (LBO) – Standard Chartered said that its push into Asia, Africa and the Middle East had fuelled a profits surge at the emerging markets bank despite a jump in bad debts caused by the credit crunch, AFP news agency reported.Standard Chartered, Britain’s fourth-biggest retail bank by market value, said in an earnings […]
Australia PM pushes Asia Pacific Community idea
SINGAPORE, August 12, 2008 (AFP) – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Tuesday pushed ahead with his vision of an Asia Pacific Community but played down comparisons with the European Union following criticism from his predecessors.Speaking to diplomats, academics, business executives and students at a public lecture in Singapore, Rudd said his proposal, first floated in […]
Debut author, 93, creates real life dream with royalties
LONDON, August 11, 2008 (AFP) – A 93-year-old debut novelist has used the proceeds from her book to move her friends out of nursing homes and into her new country house, she said in British newspaper reports on Monday. When Lorna Page hit the jackpot with “A Dangerous Weakness”, a raunchy thriller set in the […]
Australian dollar falls to seven-month low
SYDNEY, August 11, 2008 (AFP) – The plunging Australian dollar hit a new seven-month low on Monday as a fall in key commodity prices put the currency under pressure, ending months of highs. The currency opened at 88.49 US cents, down from 89.29 US cents on Friday and its weakest start since January 25. The […]
Egypt inflation hits 23.1 percent; state salaries upped
CAIRO, August 10, 2008 (AFP) – Inflation soared to a record 23.1 percent in Egypt in July, fuelled by skyrocketing food prices, the CAPMAS national statistics agency reported on Sunday. The dramatic rise in the national consumer price index — the highest jump in 16 years — was mainly due to an increase of 32.5 […]