Category: Other

PARIS, Jan 1, 2008 (AFP) – France began 2008 under a new smoking ban in cafes and restaurants that drove smokers out into the street to light up their cigarettes as bar owners put away ashtrays. The ban signals a sizeable cultural shift for one of Europe’s last smokers’ bastions, particularly in Paris where cafe […]

NAIROBI, Jan 1, 2008 (AFP) – At least 35 children and adults sheltering in a church were burnt alive by an angry mob in Kenya Tuesday, as an eruption of election violence threatened to tip over into a full-scale tribal conflict.The darling of foreign investors in east Africa, with an average annual growth over five […]

Jan 02, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Mercantile Seamen Training Institute (MSTI) in the southern port of Galle plans to open its doors to foreign aspirants in 2008. The company offers seagoing opportunities for trainees on board its own ships and is building a pool of trained seamen to supply its own ships as well […]

NICOSIA, Jan 1, 2008 (AFP) – Cyprus and Malta joined the eurozone on Tuesday, bidding farewell to the Cyprus pound and Maltese lira, expanding the club of countries using the single European currency to 15. In Malta, central bank chief Michael Bonello voiced concern that people are hoarding the equivalent of about 466 million euros […]

KARACHI, Dec 31, 2007 (AFP) – Pakistan’s Karachi Stock Exchange was down 4.7 percent in early morning trading on Monday in what dealers said was one of the sharpest drops in memory. The bourse closed Thursday just hours before opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, when an official three-day period of mourning was announced. “It […]

BEIJING, Dec 30, 2007 (AFP) – China said on Sunday it will levy taxes on grain exports in 2008 in the latest move apparently aimed at reining in galloping inflation and ensuring stable domestic food supplies. The rates would range from five to 25 percent, according to a brief announcement posted on the website of […]

SINGAPORE, Dec 30, 2007 (AFP) – From banks to telephones, an airline to shopping malls, and semiconductors to airports, the reach of two state-linked investment firms from the city-state of Singapore extends around the world.The normally secretive Temasek Holdings and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) were thrust into the spotlight in December with […]

HARARE, Dec 31, 2007 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s central bank chief extended a deadline Monday to exchange 200,000 dollar bills just hours before they were to cease being legal tender after scenes of chaos at banks across the country.Last year, the central bank knocked three zeros from the country’s currency in a bid to rein in […]

NEW DELHI, Dec 30, 2007 (AFP) – India’s giant Tata Group plans to launch the world’s cheapest car early in January while also looking set to drive off with two of the poshest marques — Ford’s iconic Jaguar and Land Rover brands.Ratan Tata, head of the tea-to-steel Tata conglomerate, will unveil the “People’s Car” January […]

ROME, Dec 28, 2007 (AFP) – Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in a giant New Year’s kiss in front of Saint Mark’s Basilica in the romantic Italian city of Venice, the authorities said Friday. “New Year 2008 in Venice will become the New Year of love,” the Venice municipality said […]

WASHINGTON, Dec 28, 2007 (AFP) – The dollar is losing ground as the currency of choice in the world’s foreign exchange reserves, the International Monetary Fund said Friday. The dollar’s share of forex reserves was 63.8 percent in the third quarter, compared with 65.0 percent in the second quarter and 66.5 percent in the 2006 […]