Category: Other
US refueling tanker contract to go up for new bid
WASHINGTON, July 9, 2008 (AFP) – The Pentagon Wednesday reopened a 35-billion-dollar contract to produce a new generation of air refueling aircraft, acknowledging flaws in an earlier air force decision to award it to Northrop Grumman.In an embarrassing about-face, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Northrop Grumman and rival Boeing would be asked to submit […]
Oil prices calm after US$10 slump
NEW YORK, July 9, 2008 (AFP) – Oil prices held steady Wednesday after two days of sharp declines, as news that Iran tested a long-range missile capable of hitting Israel pushed up prices temporarily. The market shook off news of another slump in US oil inventories and also digested a pledge by the Group of […]
Indian traders down shutters to protest at retail giants
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, July 10, 2008 (AFP) – Traders in India’s southern Kerala state shut up shop on Thursday in a show of opposition to the entry of retail giants into the area.The president of the Kerala Merchants and Traders Coordination Committee, the largest body of traders in the communist-ruled state, said the strike was “total.” “Around […]
Crowd-powered NowPublic news site buys rumor website
SAN FRANCISCO, July 10, 2008 (AFP) – Virtual news-gathering website NowPublic said Thursday it has bought rumor-backing Truemors to go beyond eye witness accounts to exposing developments “bubbling under the hood.” The deal, for an undisclosed amount, expands the news coverage of the Vancouver-based NowPublic, which delivers news and events recorded by eyewitnesses using their […]
Internet flaw could let hackers take over the Web
SAN FRANCISCO, July 9, 2008 (AFP) – Computer industry heavyweights are hustling to fix a flaw in the foundation of the Internet that would let hackers control traffic on the World Wide Web. Major software and hardware makers worked in secret for months to create a software “patch” released on Tuesday to repair the problem, […]
Top climate scientist blasts G8 climate pledge
PARIS, July 8, 2008 (AFP) – One of the world’s most respected climate scientists on Tuesday slammed the G8 summit’s goal of halving global warming emissions by 2050 as “worse than worthless.” Leaders of the world’s richest nations, meeting in Japan, “are taking actions that guarantee that we deliver to our children climate catastrophes that […]
Sri Lanka to get Chinese support in tea cultivation
July 09, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea industry expects to get support from China to improve plant breeding and cultivation, Sri Lanka Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi said. “We hope to do that in the very near future at a government-to-government level,” Hettiarachchi said. He said scientists from both countries, both big tea producers, […]
”’ quota unconstitutional, court rules
BUCHAREST, July 9, 2008 (AFP) – Romanians have a right to doom and gloom, the country’s constitutional court ruled Wednesday, blocking a government move obliging radio and television stations to broadcast good and bad news in equal proportions.The court ruled that a new law, which stipulated that upbeat news should make up half of all […]
‘s Noor Islamic Bank to launch operations in Maldives
July 9, 2008 (LBO) – Dubai’s Noor Islamic Bank has inked a deal to open up an Islamic banking unit in the Indian Ocean Island of Maldives, officials said.Operating under the name Noor Islamic Maldives Private Limited, the Dubai-based bank will hold 33 percent in the new company, Maldives Monetary Authority Governor, Abdulla Jihad said […]
‘s Gorkhas campaign for new state
DARJEELING, July 8, 2008 (AFP) – Leaders of the ethnic Nepali-speaking minority in India’s mountainous and tea-rich northeast have started month-long prayers to press for their own federal state.Ethnic Gorkhas — who number more than a million in the eastern state of West Bengal — have been demanding a separate state within India for decades, […]
South Korea props up won with dollar sales
EOUL, July 8, 2008 (AFP) – The South Korean won hit a two-week high Tuesday after foreign exchange authorities sold up to two billion dollars to prop it up, traders said.The currency was quoted at 1,031.60 per dollar as of 0500 GMT, compared to Monday’s close of 1,042.90. Earlier Tuesday it rallied as high as […]
” of recession: survey
LONDON, July 8, 2008 (AFP) – Britain’s economy, buckling under the credit crunch and a slowing property market, faces a “serious risk” of recession as firms face soaring costs and falling orders, according to a survey published Tuesday.The British Chambers of Commerce, which represents the country’s business interests around the world, made the claim in […]