Category: World

NEW YORK, Feb 14, 2008 (AFP) – The dollar eased against other major currencies Thursday after US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke highlighted economic risks, signaling further interest rate cuts to bolster growth.Around 2200 GMT, the euro was at 1.4637 dollars, up from 1.4573 dollars in New York late Wednesday. The dollar also fell to […]

HARARE, Feb 14, 2008 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s inflation rate, already the highest in the world, has soared to a new high of 66,212.3 percent, according to official figures obtained by AFP on Thursday.“The year-on-year inflation rate for the month of December 2007, as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 66,212.3 […]

JAKARTA, Feb 15, 2008 (AFP) – Jakarta share prices closed 0.5 percent higher Friday rebounding from morning losses after the government’s announcement of strong 2007 growth data, dealers said. They said for 2007, the economy expanded 6.32 percent, the fastest for Indonesia since the Asian financial crisis 11 years ago.It remained below the pre-crisis level […]

NEW YORK, Feb 13, 2008 (AFP) – Yahoo is exploring a possible alliance with media conglomerate News Corp.to stave off a take-over by software giant Microsoft, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. owns the Journal, as well a global media empire that includes popular online social networking website MySpace, Dow […]

MALE Feb 14, 2008 (LBO) – Unsigned love letters, flowers, tokens and trinkets of undying affection.This is not a page from a romantic novel, but how youngsters in the Islamic Republic of Maldives plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day celebrations and marketing gimmicks have, according to many, reached a new high this year, with […]

NEW DELHI, Feb 14, 2008 (AFP) – India on Thursday launched its first naval summit aimed at forging ties with nations that have a stake in the busy maritime lanes of the Indian Ocean.Twenty-six representatives of navies from countries including Australia, Egypt, France and Sri Lanka are attending the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), seen […]

WASHINGTON, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Tuesday unveiled a new private sector-led program backed by six leading home lenders to help homeowners facing foreclosure in a deepening real-estate slump to keep their homes.The plan would allow borrowers at immediate risk of losing their homes an opportunity to pause the […]

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 […]

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 […]