Category: World

PARIS, Jan 22, 2008 (AFP) – Leaders in Asia and Europe appealed for calm Tuesday and called for international cooperation in the face of a galloping global meltdown on world stock markets sparked by fears of a US recession. Asian markets experienced a day of heavy losses, with Hong Kong share prices suffering their biggest […]

BRUSSELS, Jan 22, 2008 (AFP) – The European Commission’s top economic official, Joaquin Almunia, called Tuesday on the United States to tackle its deficits, which he said were the root cause of financial market turmoil. Amid concern in Europe that a US government recovery plan would not avert a recession, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs […]

WASHINGTON, Jan 22, 2008 (AFP) – The US Federal Reserve slashed its key federal funds short-term interest rate by three quarters of a percentage point to 3.50 percent Tuesday amid sharp falls on global stock markets. The Fed announced its move shortly before US stock markets were due to open for trading and amid increasing […]

LONDON, Jan 21, 2008 (AFP) – Global stock markets plunged on Monday as US President George W.Bush’s tax plan to revive the world’s largest economy disappointed investors. “Investor scepticism over the impact of a temporary tax cut in saving the US economy from a sharp slowdown in economic growth prompted heavy selling” in equities, said […]

LONDON, Jan 19, 2008 (AFP) – Britain’s first fleet of tuk-tuks have been run off the roads by “archaic legislation”, the owner said Saturday.The colourful fleet of 12 three-wheeled motorised rickshaws, called tuk-tuks after the sound of the engine, have been patrolling the seafront at Brighton, southern England, since July 2006. But Dominic Ponniah of […]

BANGALORE, India, Jan 20, 2008 (AFP) – India’s major software firms say a US economic slowdown may bring more customers seeking cost savings, but analysts warn that the once red-hot sector faces tough times in 2008. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys Technologies and Wipro, whose latest earnings were hit by a sharp gain in the […]

WASHINGTON, Jan 20, 2008 (AFP) – The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a consortium of 315 top institutional investors assessing industries about their CO2 emissions, announced Sunday a new partnership to extend its global initiative to companies and suppliers. With members including Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Allianz and HSBC that manage assets of more than 41 […]

MANILA, Jan 18, 2008 (AFP) – The Asian Development Bank admitted in an internal study released Friday that some of its loans to poor countries over the last few years had failed to achieve all their goals. The release of the study comes after reports that disillusioned major donor nations such as the US and […]

TOKYO, Jan 18, 2008 (AFP) – Japanese share prices tumbled 2.81 percent by the end of the morning session Friday after a sharp fall on Wall Street on rising fears of a US recession, dealers said. They said that congressional testimony by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke failed to reassure markets that stimulus measures were […]

NEW DELHI, Jan 18, 2008 (AFP) – India’s inflation jumped nearly three-tenths of one percentage point to its highest level in four months, data showed on Friday, making chances of an interest rate cut more remote.But economists expect the economy to lose steam in coming months as the effects of aggressive monetary tightening to curb […]

NAIROBI, Jan 17, 2008 (AFP) – Tea is a casualty of the turmoil sparked by disputed presidential elections in Kenya, with thousands of workers forced to flee plantations in one of the world’s top exporters, industry sources say. Between 26,000 and 70,000 tea sector employees from the western region of Kericho, where Kenya’s main plantations […]

January 17, 2006 (LBO) — Five foreigners have been arrested in the Indian Ocean Island of Maldives for allegedly offering commercial sex and having lubricants and condoms on them, police said Thursday.“Three men and two women were arrested Tuesday midnight on a tip off from a house in Male,” police spokesman Sergeant Ahmed Shiyam said […]