Category: World

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

NEW YORK, Nov 26, 2007 (AFP) – Wall Street saw a sea of red Wednesday in a heavy selloff as investors voiced fears that the housing slump and credit crunch could derail US economic growth. Analysts said retail sales over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend had appeared robust, but economists said the American consumer is being […]

LONDON, Nov 26, 2007 (AFP) – European share prices closed lower Monday, while Wall Street slipped back as investors looked past sharp gains in Asia and continued to fret about the global credit squeeze, dealers said.They said a constant flow of bad news about the impact of the crisis in the US subprime or higher […]

CHICAGO, Nov 27, 2007 (AFP) – The wife of American adventurer Steve Fossett has asked a court to declare him legally dead, nearly three months after his small plane vanished over the Nevada wilderness, a newspaper reported Tuesday.Last year, he guided his Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer some 42,000 kilometers (26,000 miles) around the world, setting the […]

KAMPALA, Nov 25, 2007 (AFP) – Commonwealth leaders called on Pakistan on Sunday to remain engaged with the group as they wrapped up a summit here that saw the suspension of President Pervez Musharraf’s country. Leaders from the 53-nation federation “called on the government of Pakistan to respond positively to the Commonwealth’s desire to remain […]

SYDNEY, Nov 26, 2007 (AFP) – Australian republicans Monday said prime minister John Howard’s removal from office opened the way for a bipartisan push for the country to break its ties with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.When the referendum failed to get the votes required to pass, Malcolm Turnbull, who was then chairman of the Australian […]