Category: Other

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

BEIJING, May 1, 2008 (AFP) – Chinese authorities inspected more than 3,600 businesses in a major export city at the centre of a child labour scandal, state press reported Thursday, after children were found working in factories.The children, aged from nine to 16, worked long hours in factories in the city of Dongguan for about […]

NEW DELHI, May 2, 2008 (AFP) – India’s inflation rate accelerated to a 42-month peak of 7.57 percent, driven by higher food costs, according to official data on Friday, dealing a fresh blow to the government.Annual inflation quickened more than two-tenths of a percentage point to touch 7.57 percent for the week ended April 19, […]

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2008 (AFP) – Americans say the media are devoting too much ink and airtime to the US presidential race, amid growing criticism that news coverage has focused on the superficial instead of important issues.Half of the public, 51 percent, say news outlets are offering “too much coverage of the campaign,” according to […]

PARIS, May 2, 2008 (AFP) – The UN’s new top advisor on food blamed two decades of wrong-headed policies by world powers for the food crisis sweeping the globe, in a stinging interview published on his first day in office Friday.Frenchman Olivier de Schutter, a law professor and human rights campaigner, told Le Monde newspaper […]

LONDON, May 1, 2008 (AFP) – There is too little regulation of financial services industries in British overseas territories like Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands, an official report said Wednesday.The study, by the influential House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, looked at Foreign Office activity in Britain’s 14 overseas territories, including the two low-tax […]

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2008 (AFP) – The rapid appreciation of the Chinese currency against the US dollar is taking a big toll on Asian companies using China as base for exports to the United States, according to a top US business official. The yuan has risen 18 percent against the dollar since China abandoned a […]

NEW DELHI, May 2, 2008 (AFP) – Indian steelmaker Essar Steel said Thursday it planned to acquire US steel company Esmark, valuing the deal at 1.1 billion dollars, as it pushes ahead with an aggressive North American expansion drive.With the planned buy, Essar will have nearly seven million tonnes of steelmaking capacity in the United […]

PARIS, April 30, 2008 (AFP) – Three Chinese institutions were among the world’s top four banks at the end of 2007 at a time when the market capitalisation of Western banks was suffering from a global financial crisis, a study showed Wednesday.The number one spot in the rankings, compiled by the Boston Consulting Group, was […]