Category: Other

NEW YORK, Dec 17, 2007 (AFP) – Arguably the most important document ever to be auctioned goes on sale Tuesday when the Magna Carta, an 800-year-old English royal manuscript, goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s in New York. The royal charter, dated 1297 and bearing the wax seal of King Edward I, enshrined the rights […]

TOKYO, Dec 16, 2007 (AFP) – Japanese car giant Toyota Motor Corp. plans to raise its global output to near 10 million units next year, out-distancing its rival General Motors Corp. of the United States, a news report said Sunday. While Toyota is expanding its overseas production facilities, GM has been laying off workers and […]

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 15, 2007 (AFP) – The Internet is directly connecting investors and borrowers, letting them take banks out of the lending equation and put their money where their hearts and dreams are. People have lent each other more than 100 million dollars through Prosper.com since it launched in February of 2006 and the […]

SYDNEY, Dec 16, 2007 (AFP) – The US is heading for a recession and the rest of the world would be “dead wrong” to think this will not impact on growing Asian economies, Morgan Stanley senior executive Stephen Roach said Sunday.In an interview with Sky News in Australia, Roach said the US Federal Reserve Bank […]

NEW YORK, Dec 14, 2007 (AFP) – The dollar rose sharply Friday as a larger-than-expected spike in US inflation suggested the US Federal Reserve may not find it so easy to continue cutting interest rates. Dealers said the latest figures showed that the Fed, like many central banks, was now caught between keeping rates high […]

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 14, 2007 (AFP) – Violence and torture by Zimbabwe’s police against rights activists and opposition members are on the increase despite ongoing mediation efforts, Amnesty International said on Friday. “Organised police violence and torture has continued during the SADC mediation — in fact, the severity of beatings and torture has been increasing,” said […]

NEW YORK, Dec 13, 2007 (AFP) – Rupert Murdoch completed his hard-fought takeover of The Wall Street Journal and its parent company Thursday as Dow Jones & Co. shareholders formally approved a takeover by Murdoch’s News Corp. The vote formalized a victory for Murdoch in his bid to wrest control of the Journal, the prestigious […]

BERLIN, Dec 14, 2007 (AFP) – Inflation hit 3.1 percent in Germany, the biggest eurozone economy, last month, final figures released Friday by the national statistics office showed.Consumer prices rose by more than an initially estimated 3.0 percent, to reach their highest increase since January 1994, the Destatis office said. On Thursday, European Central Bank […]

SYDNEY, Dec 14, 2007 (AFP) – Australia faces an extended battle against inflation as China and India fuel an unprecedented economic boom in a period of global uncertainty, the country’s new Treasurer Wayne Swan warned Friday.The treasurer outlined plans to combat price rises by launching an era of strict fiscal discipline to slash “wasteful spending” […]

NEW DELHI, Dec 14, 2007 (AFP) – India’s annual inflation rate jumped unexpectedly nearly three-quarters of a point to 3.75 percent on rising fuel and food prices, official data on Friday showed.Inflation rose to 3.75 percent for the week ended December 1 from 3.01 percent the previous week, according to the wholesale price index, India’s […]

NEW YORK, Dec 12, 2007 (AFP) – Wall Street rode a roller coaster session Wednesday as stocks rallied, then fell before swinging higher after the Federal Reserve and other central banks unveiled a coordinated plan to ease a global credit crunch. In a move analysts described as the most concerted effort since the September 11, […]