Category: Other

WASHINGTON, Nov 4, 2007 (AFP) – The world’s biggest bank Citigroup named ex-US Treasury chief Robert Rubin as its new chairman Sunday, replacing Charles Prince who retired as it posted massive losses from the subprime mortgage crisis. “It is my judgment that given the size of the recent losses in our mortgage-backed securities business, the […]

WASHINGTON, Nov 3, 2007 (AFP) – Six years after the September 11 attacks and despite the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the United States insists its war on terrorism justifies extreme forms of interrogation, including “waterboarding,” and rejects any talk of torture.During a Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month, attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey refused to […]

HARARE, Nov 4, 2007 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s central bank chief said Sunday he has shelved plans to introduce a new currency in a bid to rein in galloping inflation and wants to direct efforts towards increasing supply of goods and services.Last month, Gono pledged that empty shop shelves would soon be replenished as he denounced […]

NEW YORK, Nov 2, 2007 (AFP) – Citigroup Chief Executive Charles Prince is planning to resign at a board meeting Sunday, amid growing turmoil surrounding the US banking giant, the Wall Street Journal reported late Friday.The report, citing people familiar with the matter, said Prince, 57, after four troubled years of tenure had decided to […]

ISLAMABAD, Nov 3, 2007 (AFP) – Pakistan’s private television channels suddenly went off the air Saturday amid reports President Pervez Musharraf was likely to impose a state of emergency.A senior official at Dawn television, which broadcasts in English, said transmition had been shut down.“Our channel has been taken off the air and it seems it […]

DHAKA, Nov 1, 2007 (AFP) – Bangladesh’s government on Thursday gave up its executive control over the judiciary, ending a practice that dates back to British rule over the Indian subcontinent. The move to free up the courts from politics is a key element of sweeping reforms being put in place by the country’s emergency […]

TOKYO, Nov 2, 2007 (AFP) – Asian stocks suffered heavy losses in early trade Friday after initial euphoria on Wall Street over the US interest rate cut faded quickly as fresh credit jitters rattled global markets.Indices around the region fell by as much as nearly three percent after tumbles in New York and Europe on […]

NEW DELHI, Nov 2, 2007 (AFP) – India’s inflation rate is pursuing a steady decline around five-year lows, official data showed Friday.Annual inflation fell slightly to 3.02 percent for the week ended October 20 from 3.07 percent for the previous week, according to the wholesale price index, India’s most watched cost-of-living monitor. Inflation stood at […]

NEW DELHI, Nov 2, 2007 (AFP) – An Indian court has granted a man permission to divorce his HIV-positive wife on the grounds that he could no longer enjoy sex with her, a report said Friday. Judge Rajnish Bhatnagar found in favour of the unnamed husband noting that “marriage without sex is anathema,” the Hindustan […]

NEW YORK, Oct 31, 2007 (AFP) – The dollar slid to new lows against the euro and the pound Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve cut a quarter-point from interest rates. The single European currency topped the 1.45 dollar level for the first time, reaching 1.4504 dollars after the Fed’s widely anticipated short-term rate cut […]

NEW YORK, Oct 31, 2007 (AFP) – The price of gold passed 800 dollars an ounce on Wednesday for the first time since 1980 after the US Federal Reserve lowered its key short-term interest rate, the New York Mercantile Exchange said. Gold futures for December touched 800.80 dollars on the exchange (NYMEX) after the Fed […]

SINGAPORE, Nov 1, 2007 (AFP) – Oil prices scaled record highs of more than 95 dollars a barrel in Asian trade Thursday after the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates and following news of a surprise decline in US crude stocks. New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, was trading at […]