Category: Other

DHAKA, Aug 2, 2006 (AFP) – India accused Pakistan of jeopardising a fledgling South Asian free trade deal by failing to fully implement key tariff cuts as a regional ministerial meeting wound up in Dhaka on Wednesday. India said that a Pakistani move to limit tariff concessions for Indian goods was a breach of the […]

NEW DELHI, Aug 2, 2006 (AFP) – Employing children under 14 in households, roadside eateries and hotels will be illegal in India from October, the government has announced, saying it hopes to improve the plight of millions. But rights activists held out little hope that the lot of child labourers would change. A labour ministry […]

DHAKA, Aug 1, 2006 (AFP) – South Asian foreign ministers started a two-day meeting in the Bangladesh capital Tuesday amid gathering clouds over the future of a regional free trade deal. The foreign ministers of the seven South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations would try to thrash out a dispute over tariff concessions, […]

LONDON, Aug 1, 2006 (AFP) – The Great British Beer Festival served the first of an estimated 300,000 weird and wonderful pints from across the globe Tuesday as a London exhibition hall was transformed into the biggest pub in the world.More than 700 different real ales, ciders, perries, and bottled beers are available for tasting […]

PARIS, Aug 1, 2006 (AFP) – Vigorous economic growth and signs of inflation are drawing central banks into the US Federal Reserve’s footsteps on the path towards higher interest rates, marking the end of cheap money. Almost the entire global economy is facing the same combination, and alarms have begun to ring among monetary authorities […]

BANGALORE, India, July 30, 2006 (AFP) – Twenty-five years ago, with an investment of just 250 dollars, a tiny software company took shape in a one-bedroom apartment in the western India city of Pune.Today Infosys Technologies has revenues of 2.1 billion dollars and employs 58,000 people in more than two dozen countries, ranking as India’s […]

LIEPAJA, Latvia, July 29, 2006 (AFP) – Some countries will do anything to attract tourists. In Latvia, they have pristine beaches, architectural pearls, verdant countryside and excellent cuisine, but why bother when you can have abuse and insults — even get shot — in a former KGB prison? On a hot July day, about 20 […]

GENEVA, July 27, 2006 (AFP) – Airlines must adapt to high oil prices and explore changes such as alternative fuels to regain profitability despite a 6.7 percent growth in passenger traffic during the first half of 2006, the top industry association said Thursday.Airlines are still battling for financial prosperity despite growing revenues and better load […]

TOKYO, July 25, 2006 (AFP) – The breakdown of the WTO talks is likely to encourage the further proliferation of bilateral free trade pacts in Asia that have raised concerns about a “noodle bowl” of overlapping rules, analysts said. East Asian nations have already been rushing to negotiate individual agreements to remove barriers to trade, […]

SINGAPORE, July 25, 2006 (AFP) – There will be no more shouting or waving of hands in obscure signals from September when one of Asia’s last traditional “open outcry” exchange trading facilities is closed in Singapore.The Singapore Exchange said Tuesday its open outcry facility will shut at the close of business on Friday September 29 […]

TOKYO, July 25, 2006 (AFP) – The breakdown of the WTO talks is likely to encourage the further proliferation of bilateral free trade pacts in Asia that have raised concerns about a “noodle bowl” of overlapping rules, analysts said. East Asian nations have already been rushing to negotiate individual agreements to remove barriers to trade, […]

SINGAPORE, July 25, 2006 (AFP) – There will be no more shouting or waving of hands in obscure signals from September when one of Asia’s last traditional “open outcry” exchange trading facilities is closed in Singapore.The Singapore Exchange said Tuesday its open outcry facility will shut at the close of business on Friday September 29 […]