Category: Other

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2008 (AFP) – International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Thursday he sees a “major” slowdown in the global economy this year amid a credit market crisis. “What is certain is that the situation is very serious and that the slowdown in the United States, and subsequently in the rest of […]

PARIS, April 4, 2008 (AFP) – British charity Oxfam released Friday figures on aid spending showing that rich countries had broken promises made to substantially increase assistance to developing countries.The figures showed that in many of the Group of Eight (G8) richest nations, aid spending as a percentage of gross national income (GNI) had dropped […]

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2008 (AFP) – The US Congress Thursday steps up scrutiny of the government role in the rescue of Bear Stearns, even as Fed chairman Ben Bernanke argued the central bank “did not bail out” the Wall Street investment giant. A Senate hearing will seek details of the deal engineered by the Federal […]

HARARE, April 3, 2008 (AFP) – Zimbabweans waited anxiously on Thursday for an end to a deafening official silence over the outcome of their presidential election, after the opposition took control of parliament.The economy of Zimbabwe has been in meltdown since the start of the decade, with inflation now standing at over 100,000 percent and […]

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2008 (AFP) – The World Bank on Wednesday called on the international community to mount a wide-ranging fight against hunger as skyrocketing food prices critically threaten the world’s poor.“We need a New Deal for Global Food Policy,” World Bank president Robert Zoellick said in a speech to a Washington think tank ahead […]

OCANA, Spain, April 3, 2008 (AFP) – US aircraft maker Boeing flew a plane earlier this year that was powered by a hydrogen battery in a first for the aviation industry that could herald a greener future, senior company officials said in Spain on Thursday. But the company said that although hydrogen fuel cells could […]

MANILA, April 2, 2008 (AFP) – Asia is facing a serious skills shortage that could hamper the region’s economic growth and push for modernisation, the Asian Development Bank said in its annual outlook report released Wednesday. The Manila-based ADB said the shortage was widespread and had been partly driven by skilled workers leaving to take […]

SINGAPORE, April 2, 2008 (AFP) – The Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) on Wednesday stood by its decision to invest in troubled Swiss bank UBS and did not rule out a further capital injection.UBS on Tuesday revealed an additional 19 billion US dollars in writedowns, making it the bank worst-hit by a global crisis […]

SINGAPORE, April 1, 2008 (AFP) – World oil prices traded below 102 dollars in Asian trade on Tuesday after falling more than four dollars in New York on concerns about slowing energy demand in the US, and a decline in Iraqi militia violence, dealers said. In morning trade, New York’s main oil contract, light sweet […]

BEIJING, April 1, 2008 (AFP) – China will be able to maintain adequate rice supplies to its 1.3 billion people despite recent sharp hikes in global prices for the grain, Premier Wen Jiabao said in comments reported Tuesday. “Please set your mind at rest because China has an abundant supply of rice,” the China Daily […]