Wall Street drops as anxiety high ahead of Fed meet

NEW YORK, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) – Wall Street stocks fell Monday as anxiety ran high a day ahead of a crucial Federal Reserve meeting to decide the course of US interest rates. Shares in the Nasdaq Stock Market fell 1.43 percent to 34.41 on reports it was close to a deal to sell its […]

China to buy 3,400 new airplanes by 2026: Boeing

BEIJING, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) – China, the world’s fastest growing aviation market, will need 3,400 new airplanes worth about 340 billion dollars over the next 20 years, US aircraft maker Boeing said Tuesday.The forecast marks a dramatic increase from an earlier prediction by Boeing of 2,900 aircraft in the period from 2005 to 2025. […]

World oil price tops 81 dollars

SINGAPORE, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) – Oil prices topped 81 dollars a barrel for the first time on Tuesday, setting another record high amid fears of critically tight supplies for the winter season in the United States.OPEC’s announcement last week that it would pump an extra 500,000 barrels per day from November has failed to […]

China web-user dies after three-day online binge

BEIJING, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) – A man in southern China collapsed and died after a three-day marathon online session at a cybercafe, state media reported on Monday.The web-user, estimated to be 30 years old, suddenly collapsed in front of his computer terminal in Guangdong province, and emergency personnel were unable to revive him, the […]

Money printing Zimbabwe eyes remaining foreign assets

HARARE, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) – Planned legislation that would place the majority share of all listed firms in the hands of indigenous blacks will lead to a fall in foreign investment and worsen Zimbabwe’s economic woes, business leaders warned Monday. Members of a parliamentary committee that is currently debating the controversial Indigenisation and Economic […]

Sri Lankan plantations firms call for more land security

Sept 17, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations companies have called for greater security of land on which they grow export crops like tea to ensure more investment in the upkeep of estates and factory modernization. To make matters worse, compensation due on such acquisitions is not forthcoming despite repeated appeals. Planters’ Association (PA) chairman […]

Bangladesh gets duty-free access to Indian garment market

DHAKA, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) – Bangladesh and India on Sunday signed a deal that will allow Dhaka to export eight million garments duty-free across the border, an agreement billed by New Delhi as a “milestone” in trade relations.“India is growing rapidly and its middle class is booming.So in the near future India can very […]

Dollar firms, sterling hit by Northern Rock bank panic

NEW YORK, Sept 14, 2007 (AFP) – The dollar steadied Friday a day after plunging to a record low on the euro, while the pound fell on jitters after a Bank of England bailout of key British lender Northern Rock.In late New York trade, the dollar stood at 115.35 yen after 115.04 Thursday and 1.1896 […]

ECB shrugs off French criticism, German support for prudence

PORTO, Portugal, Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) – European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet shrugged off on Saturday fresh French criticism of the ECB over its handling of recent financial market turmoil. EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia defended Juncker, saying he “deserves … our recognition as a president of the group that is […]

Northern Rock customers continue to take money out

LONDON, Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) – “My head tells me it’s all right but my heart says otherwise,” said an anxious accountant on the state of beleaguered British bank Northern Rock.The man in his 50s was queuing Saturday with 200 other worried customers outside the branch of Britain’s fifth-biggest mortgage lender in Golders Green, north-west […]

Lifestyle disease deaths may double by 2015, WHO warns

SEOUL, Sept 14, 2007 (AFP) – World deaths from “lifestyle” diseases will double by 2015 unless all-out efforts are taken to combat them, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned Friday.It said about 17 million people die prematurely each year as a result of the global epidemic of largely preventable chronic diseases — the leading cause […]

Later Later

Sept 14, 2007 (LBO) – The hearing of the case on the sale Sri Lanka Telecom shares by its Japanese shareholder has been put off till November 22, lawyers said. Lawmaker Sripathi Sooriyarachchi who was sacked earlier in the year as a minister by President Mahinda Rajapakse, went to court alleging that the sale caused […]

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