Category: Other
Bangladeshi workers exploited to stock British discount chains: report
LONDON, Dec 8, 2006 (AFP) – Garment workers in Bangladesh are working 80 hours a week for just five pence (seven euro cents, nine cents) an hour to produce cheap clothes for British consumers, a report claimed Friday. Anti-poverty charity War on Want said the employees were also having to endure poor working conditions to […]
Sri Lanka scales down tea production forecasts as trade union strikes continue
December 07, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is unlikely to reach last year’s tea production record, as trade unions strikes on estates since November over a wage hike, shows no signs of slowing. December production is likely to reach about 21 million kilos over the usual 25 million kilos. “The outlook for January too is not […]
Five years on, copyright theft remains a Chinese trademark
BEIJING, Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) – When Shanghai police broke up a counterfeit pharmaceuticals ring that produced fake Tamiflu in August, it seemed a blow had been struck against China’s notorious intellectual property thieves.Tamiflu, produced by Roche, is one of the few treatments deemed effective against bird flu, and the seizure of 400 kilograms of […]
Airbus to hike investment in India to one billion dollars
NEW DELHI, Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) – Europe’s Airbus said Thursday it would hike investment in India to at least one billion dollars as it forecast the country would need 1,100 new planes over 20 years to meet soaring travel demand. The aircraft maker had pledged to plow back 500 million to 600 million dollars […]
Political parties, parliaments most corrupt: graft poll
BRUSSELS, Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) – Political parties and parliaments are seen as the world’s most corrupt institutions and governments are not doing enough to combat the problem, a poll by a respected global graft watchdog said Thursday. The Transparency International survey, of some 60,000 people in 62 countries, found that many ordinary citizens thought […]
World economy on track for strong 2007
PARIS, Dec 6, 2006 (AFP) – Slowing activity in the US economy and a possible sudden cooling of overheated property markets are the main threats to the world economy in 2007 after vigorous recovery this year. The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday it was lowering its growth estimate for next year from its current prediction […]
‘s richest two percent own half global wealth: UN
HELSINKI, Dec 5, 2006 (AFP) – The world’s richest two percent of adults own more than half of global household wealth, while half the world’s population own only one percent, a UN report published on Tuesday showed. “The study finds wealth to be more unequally distributed than income across countries,” Anthony Shorrocks, director of the […]
Thailand, US deploy first tsunami warning buoy in Indian Ocean
PHUKET, Thailand, Dec 1, 2006 (AFP) – Thai and US officials Friday sent off a ship carrying a tsunami warning device designed to protect millions of people around the Indian Ocean from a repeat of the catastrophe two years ago. Some 220,000 people in a dozen countries were killed by a tsunami that hit off […]
Zimbabwe finance minister predicts growth, inflation fall
HARARE, Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s finance minister predicted Thursday marginal economic growth in the coming year and that the country’s four-figure inflation rate would dip to 350 percent as he presented the budget for 2007. “The economy is expected to grow marginally by between 0.5 percent and one percent in 2007,” Herbert Murerwa […]
‘s tea companies warn of millions in losses due to trade union action
Nov 30, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantation companies warned Thursday of millions of rupees in losses due to trade union action on estates, as wage talks reach breaking point. Sri Lanka has over 250,000 estate workers, with the island among the world’s top producers’ at over 300 million kilos of black tea produced a year. […]
‘s environment, lifestyle
PANAJI, India, Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – The once low-budget tourist haven of Goa is facing a crisis, environmentalists say, as developers force up land prices and a tourism boom threatens the delicate coastal ecology.“As a result our forest cover, which was 34 percent in 2001 and projected to increase to 40 percent, has now […]
Indian economy grows faster than expected, sparks interest rate concerns
NEW DELHI, Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – India’s economy grew a faster-than-expected 9.2 percent in the second quarter to September, official data showed Thursday, prompting concerns that overheating will require higher interest rates.The Indian rupee weakened Wednesday against the dollar to 44.74 from 44.65 after the data was announced, and strengthened against the euro to […]