Category: Other
Money may buy happiness (or not): economists renew debate
WASHINGTON, May 25, 2008 (AFP) – The saying goes that money can’t buy happiness.But inquiring economists have been working for decades trying to prove or disprove the notion.Resarchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business released a study in April showing “a clear positive link” between wealth and “subjective well-being,” based on global […]
Indonesia hikes fuel prices despite protests
JAKARTA, May 24, 2008 (AFP) – Indonesia hiked the cost of fuel by around 30 percent Saturday in response to soaring global oil prices and a ballooning subsidy bill, leaving hard-pressed households facing even more economic woe. Long queues formed at petrol stations ahead of the announcement late Friday that prices would rise by an […]
Microsoft closes the book on online library
SAN FRANCISCO, May 23, 2008 (AFP) – Microsoft said Friday it is ending its quest to create an online library of the world’s books as the technology titan revamps its strategy to battle Internet search king Google.Live Search Books and Live Search Academics projects are being cancelled and the websites will be taken down next […]
After protests, new Bangalore airport opens
BANGALORE, India, May 24, 2008 (AFP) – India’s gleaming new Bangalore international airport opened Saturday despite protests by residents and businesses who said getting there by road could prove a nightmare.The state-of-the-art 630-million-dollar facility sprang into life after a court threw out pleas by local people to keep the existing airport open for commercial flights. […]
‘s richest man Buffet
BERLIN, May 24, 2008 (AFP) – While economists quibble, the world’s richest man has decided: the United States is already in recession.So Warren Buffet tells German magazine Der Spiegel in an interview to be published on Monday. “It is perhaps not a recession in the way that economists would understand it…but people are already feeling […]
India trade minister rejects new WTO texts
NEW DELHI, May 22, 2008 (AFP) – New draft texts on industrial goods aimed at clinching an elusive deal in global trade talks will have to be “completely revised,” India’s commerce minister said on Thursday.The World Trade Organisation’s Doha round of talks to reduce trade barriers was launched in 2001 with the target of reaching […]
No more whoopee for Indian rupee
NEW DELHI, May 23, 2008 (AFP) – India’s currency is feeling the pressure as world oil prices soar and foreign investors lose their “risk appetite” for emerging market assets amid global financial turmoil, analysts say.The Indian rupee — which a few months ago was trading at 10-year highs — now looks poised to post its […]
Key eurozone study highlights flagging private sector
BRUSSELS, May 23, 2008 (AFP) – A key survey released Friday boosted fears that the eurozone is flagging, pointing to a sharp slowing in business activity as soaring oil prices, the high euro and the US-born credit crunch take their toll.The widely-watched eurozone’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI), compiled by NTC Research, found that business activity […]
Freed
May 22, 2008 (AFP) – An appeal court on Thursday overturned a two-year prison term for breaking immigration law and dropped all charges against former cricket chief Thilanga Sumathipala. Sumathipala, 43, was found guilty in April 2007 of forging travel documents to take alleged underworld leader Dhammika Amarasinghe to England to watch the 1999 cricket […]
Sri Lanka banks on quality to hold tea prices up
May 22, 2008 (LBO) – Tea exporting countries last week agreed to stick to a minimum quality level to prevent oversupply from depressing prices, strengthening Sri Lankan efforts to prevent shipments of so-called ‘refuse tea’, a top official said. Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi said producing countries adopted the measures owing to growing concern the […]
Sri Lanka to import copra for oil mills
May 22, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to import copra, or dried coconut kernel, to feed the country’s oil mills which are facing high prices and raw material shortfalls, a senior minister said. The cabinet of ministers had approved the import of 45,000 tonnes of metric tonnes of copra to the country, information minister […]
Fed signals end of monetary policy road
WASHINGTON, May 21, 2008 (AFP) – The Federal Reserve sent out signals Wednesday the US economy will have to muddle through its crisis without further rate cuts, even as the central bank slashed its forecast for growth in 2008.Bethune said the “props” from the government’s 168-billion-dollar economic stimulus and tax rebate program will be “pulled […]