Category: Other

MUMBAI, April 30, 2008 (AFP) – India’s second-biggest telecoms firm Reliance Communications reported Wednesday its fourth quarter net profit rose 46.8 percent on revenue growth across its businesses.The company showed a net profit of 15.03 billion rupees (374 million dollars) for the three months ended March 31, up from 10.24 billion rupees a year earlier. […]

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2008 (AFP) – The United States on Tuesday released 40 million dollars in emergency aid for the World Food Program (WFP) to help deal with the growing global food crisis affecting the poorest nations. The funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will be added to 200 million dollars […]

April 30, 2008 (AFP) – The dollar was little changed in Asian trade on Wednesday as investors sat on their hands ahead of a Federal Reserve interest rate decision and a US economic growth report, dealers said.A decision by Japan’s central bank to leave its key interest rate unchanged at 0.5 percent had little impact. […]

BANGKOK, April 30, 2008 (AFP) – Thailand’s prime minister said Wednesday his country had agreed in principle to form a rice price-fixing cartel with Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia as costs of the staple grain rocket. The grouping of Mekong nations would be similar to the oil cartel OPEC, and would be called the Organisation […]

BEIJING, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – China is loosing some of its attractiveness to foreign investors as rising costs are forcing some US manufacturing firms to leave the country, the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) said Monday.More than two-thirds of AmCham’s member companies surveyed in an annual white paper agreed that China was losing some […]

GENEVA, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – The food crisis is bringing about a role reversal in the World Trade Organization: traditionally liberal major food exporters are now imposing restrictions on exports while protectionist states are pushing for liberalisation. To deal with the recent hike in food prices, Argentina, Brazil, Vietnam, India and Egypt have all […]

MUMBAI, April 29, 2008 (AFP) – India’s central bank on Tuesday held key interest rates steady but hiked the percentage of cash banks must hold in reserve to 8.25 percent to curb inflation riding at over three-year highs. It was the second time the Reserve Bank of India had announced an increase in the cash […]

FRANKFURT, April 29, 2008 (AFP) – German insurer Allianz said Tuesday that its first quarter net profit will slump to a third of what it was in the year-earlier period due the ongoing financial crisis and weak stock markets. The Munich-based group said it was writing off 900 million euros (1.4 billion dollars) worth of […]

CEBU, Philippines, April 29, 2008 (AFP) – President Gloria Arroyo on Tuesday urged fellow Filipinos to boil rice with yams or to eat cheaper cereals to avoid going hungry as rice prices soared to record levels.“This is a once-a-millennium global crisis. We have an action plan,” Arroyo said, noting that residents of the central island […]

FRANKFURT, April 29, 2008 (AFP) – An internal probe at German industrial group Siemens has found that almost all its sectors of activity were subject to active corruption, a company statement said Tuesday. The international law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton “has found evidence in each of the examined groups and in various countries indicating […]

SINGAPORE, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – World oil prices hit an intraday record near 120 dollars a barrel on Monday after the shutdown of a major North Sea pipeline added to supply worries, analysts said.New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, touched 119.93 dollars a barrel in electronic deals […]

HO CHI MINH CITY, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – Vietnam’s government Monday said the country has sufficient rice stocks and threatened to punish speculators who hoard rice for profit after price surges triggered a run on the staple grain.Many supermarkets and street stalls quickly ran out of rice in Ho Chi Minh City at the […]