Category: World

TOKYO, Feb 5, 2008 (AFP) – Slumping global stock markets and fears of a US recession are set to dominate a weekend meeting here of the world’s top finance chiefs, but analysts see little chance of any coordinated action. Although the fallout from the US subprime loan woes is spreading around the world, with the […]

SYDNEY, Feb 5, 2008 (AFP) – Australia’s central bank Tuesday lifted its key interest rates 25 basis points to 7.00 percent from 6.75 percent — a 12 year high — as it struggles to fight inflationary pressures.Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Glenn Stevens said recent information pointed to “significant inflation pressures”. “CPI (Consumer Price […]

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 3, 2008 (AFP) – Internet giant Google said Sunday it finds “troubling” Microsoft’s multi-billion-dollar bid to acquire rival Yahoo and urged US and international regulators to strenuously vet the proposed deal. “Microsoft’s hostile bid for Yahoo raises troubling questions,” read a statement by David Drummond, Google’s senior vice president for corporate development […]

NAIROBI, Feb 2, 2008 (AFP) – Dozens died in clashes in western Kenya, police said Saturday, shattering hopes for an accord by political rivals to make efforts to end weeks of violence.Police reported at least 47 new deaths while more accusations flew between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga, who claims he was […]

FRANKFURT, Feb 3, 2008 (AFP) – Faced with record inflation, the European Central Bank is expected to resist pressure for an interest rate cut when its governing council meets this week, in the wake of moves by the US Federal Reserve.They could come as soon as the second quarter of this year, some say.Despite a […]

TOKYO, Feb 3, 2008 (AFP) – The Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) has agreed to buy the Westin Tokyo luxury hotel for 77 billion yen (723 million dollars) from Morgan Stanley, a newspaper said Sunday.Morgan Stanley purchased the Westin Tokyo for about 50 billion yen from Japanese brewer Sapporo Holdings Ltd in 2004. The […]

VIENNA, Jan 31, 2008 (AFP) – OPEC ministers turned down calls for extra output on Thursday, voicing concern that the weak US economy may cause oil prices to drop further from recent historic peaks above 100 dollars. Most members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps 40 percent of world oil, said the […]

CHICAGO, Jan 31, 2008 (AFP) – Climate change will cause severe crop losses in Africa and Asia within the next 20 years unless farming practices are changed, a study released Thursday has found. Those crop losses could lead to food shortages and a loss of livelihood among the world’s poorest people, the authors warned. And […]

BANGKOK, Feb 1, 2008 (AFP) – A Thai man accused of trafficking tiger and leopard carcasses as well as hundreds of live pangolins has turned himself over to authorities, police said Friday.The Thai navy raided the trafficking operation on the Laos border late Tuesday and retrieved the carcasses of six tigers and five leopards, plus […]

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 31, 2008 (AFP) – Dethroned Yahoo chief executive Terry Semel left the struggling Internet firm’s board of directors on Thursday.Semel’s departure comes just two days after Yahoo revealed plans to lay off 1,000 employees as part of an effort to revitalize a company that analysts say strayed from its profitable strengths while […]

WASHINGTON, Jan 30, 2008 (AFP) – The US Federal Reserve has stepped up its campaign to head off recession with another half-point rate cut as part of an aggressive move to avert a downward economic spiral, analysts say.The cut Wednesday in the federal funds rate to 3.0 percent came just eight days after an emergency […]

LONDON, Jan 31, 2008 (AFP) – Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday that net profits leapt 23 percent last year to a record 31.331 billion dollars (21.115 billion euros), energised by soaring crude prices.Net profit on a current cost of supply basis, excluding fluctuations in the value of inventories, rose by 9.0 […]