Category: World

BRUSSELS, Dec 3, 2007 (AFP) – Growth in the 13 nations sharing the euro is expected to be weaker than expected only several months ago, according to the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund on Monday.The head of the IMF’s European department, Michael Deppler, painted a darker outlook for the eurozone in a presentation […]

CANBERRA, Dec 3, 2007 (AFP) – Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd was sworn in as Australia’s 26th prime minister on Monday after a landslide election win nine days ago against long-serving conservative leader John Howard. Rudd took the oath of office before Governor-General Michael Jeffery at Government House in Canberra, launching a new era in […]

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 2, 2007 (AFP) – US researchers warn that bullies are taking their hurtful ways from real-world schoolyards to the “cyber” world by targeting teens with nasty e-mail, text messaging, and online chat. The number of children ages 10 to 17 that say they were abused by “cyber bullies” climbed 50 percent, from […]

PARIS, Dec 1, 2007 (AFP) – Activists and global leaders used World AIDS Day Saturday to warn against complacency in fighting the disease and called on governments to fill a multi-billion-dollar funding gap.In Haiti, the country with the greatest number of HIV infected people in the Americas (190,000) after Brazil, despite a relatively small population, […]

SANYA, China, Dec 1, 2007 (AFP) – Pre-contest favourite Miss China won the Miss World 2007 title in her own country late Saturday, much to the delight of the audience, in front of an estimated two billion viewers around the globe.As well as being held on World AIDS Day, Miss World 2007 came a week […]

NEW DELHI, Dec 2, 2007 (AFP) – India’s economy can keep up its scorching growth for the next two decades as long as investment stays strong, the finance minister said on Sunday. India’s economy has grown by an average annual 8.6 percent for the last four years and the minister has said he is targeting […]

CHICAGO, Dec 1, 2007 (AFP) – Dozens of teens dressed in uniforms provided by the US Marines stand at attention in the gym of a Chicago public high school as a drill sergeant goes through a list of the day’s do’s and don’ts.Bring your books to class. Come for extra help if you need it.And […]

WASHINGTON, Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) – The Federal Reserve sees a high degree of uncertainty in the US economic outlook and is worried that strains in financial markets may lead to broader problems, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday.In remarks prepared for delivery to a business group in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bernanke said policymakers are […]

BEIJING, Nov 30, 2007 (AFP) – Chinese police are to stop arresting women who carry condoms, traditionally seen as evidence of prostitution, in an effort to help curb the spread of AIDS, state press said Friday.Despite efforts to stop the practice, women in China are still being sent to labour camps for prostitution offences merely […]

TOKYO, Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) – Japan, which has taken the lead in developing a generation of high-tech if quirky robots, is now getting down to reality by looking at what humanoids can actually do for people.Some 200 companies and more than 50 organisations from Japan and abroad are taking part in the 2007 International […]

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28, 2007 (AFP) – Malaysia is considering allowing schools to cane unruly girls to curb an upsurge in discipline problems including gang fights and bullying, reports said Wednesday. Currently only boys are caned in Malaysian schools, but only rarely and for serious offences.The punishment is administered on the buttocks or the palm […]