Category: World

PARIS, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – In a scorching annual report, Reporters Without Borders blamed Wednesday the “impotence, cowardice and duplicity” of some Western countries and top world bodies that it said threatened press freedom.“The spinelessness of some Western countries and major international bodies is harming press freedom,” said Robert Menard, head of the Paris-based […]

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – The UN Security Council on Tuesday slammed the continuing recruitment and use of children in armed conflict and deplored the systematic use of rape and other forms of sexual violence against them.It did so in a non-binding statement adopted at the end of a day-long debate attended by […]

CANBERRA, Feb 13, 2008 (AFP) – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made an historic apology to Aborigines Wednesday for injustices committed over two centuries of white settlement, saying he wanted “to remove a great stain from the nation’s soul.” The apology represented a watershed in Australia’s often fraught history of race relations, with television networks […]

PARIS, Feb 13, 2008 (AFP) – The world oil market could be set for a lengthy slowdown, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday, signalling a sharp shift in the climate which pushed the oil price to 100 dollars last month.The IEA is based in Paris and is an offshoot of the OECD. “Just as […]

SYDNEY, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – Drought cut 10 percent off the value of Australia’s agricultural production in 2006-07, official figures showed Tuesday.Poor crop production fuelled the downturn to a total output of 34.2 billion dollars (30.8 billion US), the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. Cotton dipped 46 percent to 514 million dollars, while rice […]

SINGAPORE, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – A consortium launched in Singapore on Tuesday aims to choke militants’ access to funds in Southeast Asia which one analyst said could reach three million US dollars a month. The Consortium for Countering the Financing of Terrorism aims to strengthen cooperation between banks, government agencies and academia to cut […]

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – In many poor and emerging countries, the lack of banking infrastructure but widespread use of mobile phones has created a business opportunity that network operators are keen to exploit.On Monday, British operator Vodafone announced at the industry’s annual trade show in Barcelona that it would launch a money […]

Feb 12, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will confer a national honor on visiting Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom for fostering close relations with the island, the foreign ministry said.Gayoom is scheduled to arrive in the island today with a delegation of senior ministers and officials. “The Lanka Mithra Vibushana” will be conferred on Gayoom […]

TOKYO, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – The dollar was steady against the yen in Asian trade Tuesday after world finance chiefs refrained from taking any concrete measures to stabilise markets at a weekend meeting, dealers said.They said the Tokyo market, which was closed on Monday for a national holiday, was still digesting the outcome of […]

CARACAS, Feb 10, 2008 (AFP) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday warned Venezuela could expropriate milk processing plants based here and owned by Italy’s Parmalat and Swiss-owned Nestle.Caracas blames exporting to other countries for the supply chain woes. Exporters blame price controls the government put in place five years ago. “It doesn’t make any […]

NEW DELHI, Feb 11, 2008 (AFP) – Police in northern Indian have held six alleged Islamic militants suspected of planning an attack on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), a report said Monday.India’s stock market is a potent symbol of the country’s booming economic growth.In 2007, India’s stock markets rose by a record 47.1 percent, the […]

HONG KONG, Feb 11, 2008 (AFP) – On the day before the Lunar New Year festival, almost every pork butcher in Hong Kong’s Wanchai market is frantically busy with queues of housewives and maids 10 deep. Family feasts to mark the new lunar cycle — this year the advent of the year of the rat […]