Category: World

SINGAPORE, Jan 6, 2008 (AFP) – Singapore will Wednesday open an ultra-modern new 1.2-billion-dollar airport terminal that industry analysts say will reinforce the city-state’s position as a regional aviation hub.Terminal 3, which boasts a five-storey vertical garden with waterfalls, will receive its first passengers just months after a new terminal opened in Hong Kong and […]

BAGHDAD, Jan 5, 2008 (AFP) – Through the sights of a high-powered rifle the silhouette of a soldier takes shape in the window of a concrete watchtower.A shot rings out and the body collapses like a puppet, falling from view. Juba has struck again. A new video of the mysterious marksman of the Islamic Army […]

DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan 3, 2008 (AFP) – Democrat Barack Obama triumphed in the first 2008 White House nominating contest Thursday, dealing a severe blow to Hillary Clinton’s hopes and boosting his own chances of being the first black US president.“We are choosing hope over fear.We’re choosing unity over division and sending a powerful message […]

Jan 2, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government Wednesday decided to formally end a moribund peace process with Tamil rebels and withdraw from a ceasefire arranged by peace broker Norway, top officials told AFP. “The cabinet of ministers today decided to pull out of the ceasefire,” presidential spokesman Chandrapala Liyanage said. “The legal process will […]

PARIS, Jan 1, 2008 (AFP) – France began 2008 under a new smoking ban in cafes and restaurants that drove smokers out into the street to light up their cigarettes as bar owners put away ashtrays. The ban signals a sizeable cultural shift for one of Europe’s last smokers’ bastions, particularly in Paris where cafe […]

NAIROBI, Jan 1, 2008 (AFP) – At least 35 children and adults sheltering in a church were burnt alive by an angry mob in Kenya Tuesday, as an eruption of election violence threatened to tip over into a full-scale tribal conflict.The darling of foreign investors in east Africa, with an average annual growth over five […]

Jan 02, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Mercantile Seamen Training Institute (MSTI) in the southern port of Galle plans to open its doors to foreign aspirants in 2008. The company offers seagoing opportunities for trainees on board its own ships and is building a pool of trained seamen to supply its own ships as well […]

NICOSIA, Jan 1, 2008 (AFP) – Cyprus and Malta joined the eurozone on Tuesday, bidding farewell to the Cyprus pound and Maltese lira, expanding the club of countries using the single European currency to 15. In Malta, central bank chief Michael Bonello voiced concern that people are hoarding the equivalent of about 466 million euros […]

KARACHI, Dec 31, 2007 (AFP) – Pakistan’s Karachi Stock Exchange was down 4.7 percent in early morning trading on Monday in what dealers said was one of the sharpest drops in memory. The bourse closed Thursday just hours before opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, when an official three-day period of mourning was announced. “It […]

BEIJING, Dec 30, 2007 (AFP) – China said on Sunday it will levy taxes on grain exports in 2008 in the latest move apparently aimed at reining in galloping inflation and ensuring stable domestic food supplies. The rates would range from five to 25 percent, according to a brief announcement posted on the website of […]

SINGAPORE, Dec 30, 2007 (AFP) – From banks to telephones, an airline to shopping malls, and semiconductors to airports, the reach of two state-linked investment firms from the city-state of Singapore extends around the world.The normally secretive Temasek Holdings and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) were thrust into the spotlight in December with […]

HARARE, Dec 31, 2007 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s central bank chief extended a deadline Monday to exchange 200,000 dollar bills just hours before they were to cease being legal tender after scenes of chaos at banks across the country.Last year, the central bank knocked three zeros from the country’s currency in a bid to rein in […]