Category: Other

LONDON, July 4, 2008 (AFP) – Biofuels have caused world food prices to increase by 75 percent, according to the findings of an unpublished World Bank report published in The Guardian newspaper on Friday.The daily said the report was finished in April but was not published to avoid embarrassing the US government, which has claimed […]

TOKYO, July 4, 2008 (AFP) – Asia’s emerging economies are “highly vulnerable” to skyrocketing oil prices, making inflation the number one concern for policymakers, the head of the Asian Development Bank said Friday.But emerging Asia looks set to avoid a sharp slowdown given strong economic growth in China and should easily avoid a repeat of […]

MADRID, July 3, 2008 (AFP) – Tensions have flared between the oil powers and consumer nations at the World Petroleum Congress this week, with no sign of common ground on how to bring down record crude prices. After failing to find agreement at a hastily arranged summit in Saudi Arabia on June 22, this week’s […]

MARSAXLOKK, July 3, 2008 (AFP) – Mediterranean tuna ranches are feeling the pinch after the European Union moved to prevent the depletion of fish stocks.“This year, we will probably process only 500 tonnes,” said Saviour Caruana, a co-owner of Fish and Fish, a bluefin tuna ranch with a capacity of 1,200 tonnes. “I had given […]

NAIROBI, July 02, 2008 (AFP) – A green “gold rush” is underway, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said as it announced a 60 percent rise in new investment entering the sustainable energy sector in 2007.More than 148 billion dollars (93 billion euros) of new funds were ploughed into the quest for cleaner energy last year. […]

DHAKA, July 2, 2008 (AFP) – Impoverished Bangladesh hiked bus fares 20 percent Wednesday following a controversial rise in state-set fuel prices, an official said, as Asia continued to reel from soaring crude oil costs.The government said the new fares were introduced after some operators had unilaterally raised fares up to 50 percent following Bangladesh’s […]

BERLIN, July 2, 2008 (AFP) – A German firm said Wednesday it has bowed to pressure and will stop supplying blank banknotes to Zimbabwe where the regime of Robert Mugabe fills them with ever increasing numbers of zeros. “By stopping with immediate effect we are taking into account the position of the (German) government and […]

NEW DELHI, July 2, 2008 (AFP) – An estimated four million truckers on Wednesday went on strike to press for uniform diesel prices and protest at an increase in taxes, the government and a union leader said.The action was called after talks with the government failed late Tuesday. “We had talks with the government, but […]

SYDNEY, July 1, 2008 (AFP) – As Sydney prepares for a visit by Pope Benedict XVI and hundreds of thousands of Catholics, the city’s brothels are readying themselves for an expected surge in demand for sex. Any time Australia’s biggest city hosts a major event — from the 2003 Rugby World Cup to the Asia […]

MUMBAI, July 1, 2008 (AFP) – Indian shares plunged 3.71 percent on Tuesday, closing below the 13,000-point mark, hit by worries about early general elections, inflation and oil prices, dealers said. The benchmark Mumbai 30-share Sensex index fell 499.92 points to 12,961.68, a 14-month low. “Political uncertainty and rising inflation are dragging the markets down.We […]

DHAKA, June 30, 2008 (AFP) – Impoverished Bangladesh became the latest victim of surging global crude costs Monday with the government announcing it has been forced to hike state-set fuel prices by between 34 and 66 percent. Authorities said they had no alternative to the sharp increases because the country could no longer afford to […]