Category: World

RIYADH, Nov 18, 2007 (AFP) – OPEC hardliners and moderates were deeply divided about whether oil should be used as a political weapon at a rare summit of the cartel on Sunday, with Venezuela and Saudi Arabia at loggerheads.The summit concludes later Sunday with a declaration expected to assure the world of sustainable oil supplies. […]

HOBART, Australia, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan opening batsman Marvan Atapattu is considering quitting international cricket after the second Hobart Test and playing club cricket in Sydney, reports said Saturday.But he went on to score 51 in the first innings to keep his place in the team.In 89 Tests Atapattu has scored 5,397 […]

DHAKA, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) – Bangladesh said Saturday it feared thousands of corpses were littering its southern coast after the worst cyclone in years tore through the impoverished and low-lying area.Officials said the army and relief workers were still battling to reach the worst-hit districts, where village after village were flattened when cyclone Sidr […]

WASHINGTON, Nov 15, 2007 (AFP) – A top EU regulator on Thursday welcomed a move by the US Securities and Exchange Commission to abolish rules that had obliged publicly-listed European companies to comply with US accounting standards. SEC regulators approved new rules which will no longer oblige publicly-traded EU companies with operations in the United […]

ISLAMABAD, Nov 16, 2007 (AFP) – Pakistani authorities freed former premier Benazir Bhutto and a leading human rights activist from house arrest Friday as a senior US official headed to Islamabad to urge an end to emergency rule.The orders ending their detention came just hours before President Pervez Musharraf was to swear in a caretaker […]

WASHINGTON, Nov 14, 2007 (AFP) – Hong Kong’s de facto central bank on Wednesday dismissed suggestions that the Hong Kong dollar, which is at present pegged to the US dollar, be repegged to the Chinese yuan currency. It is impractical and does not make economic sense, Eddie Yue, the deputy chief executive of the Hong […]

NEW DELHI, Nov 14, 2007 (AFP) – Former Test captains Brian Lara and Inzamam-ul Haq were on Wednesday confirmed to play in India’s rebel Twenty20 league following a goof-up over players’ lists.The names of Lara and Inzamam, touted as star attractions of the Indian Cricket League (ICL), were missing when the six teams for the […]

SINGAPORE, Nov 15, 2007 (AFP) – A British man was fined 3,472 US dollars in a Singapore court after he pleaded guilty to abusive behaviour during a flight from London, a court official said Thursday. Gareth Gaudion admitted in court Wednesday that he was drunk and abused the Singapore Airlines crew during the November 2 […]

WASHINGTON, Nov 15, 2007 (AFP) – China’s economy is 40 percent smaller than most recent estimates, a US economist said Wednesday, citing data from the Asian Development Bank and guidelines from the World Bank.That effort is “still very much work in progress,” he said.“It’s too early to tell what the final implications will be.” Albert […]

Nov 15, 2007 (LBO) – The United States has frozen the assets of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) for raising funds and buying arms for the Tamil Tigers, which is a designated terrorist organization, the US embassy in Colombo said. “In the United States, the TRO has raised funds on behalf of the LTTE [Liberation […]

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 13, 2007 (AFP) – A globe kept by Adolf Hitler in his Eagle’s Nest compound and retrieved from the rubble after the end of World War II sold Tuesday for 100,000 dollars to an art collector and entrepreneur. The globe sat for 62 years in John Barsamian’s dusty attic in Oakland but […]

DUBAI, Nov 13, 2007 (AFP) – Dubai-owned Emirates airline, already the largest carrier in the Middle East, has reinforced its position as regional market leader with multi-billion-dollar orders at the Dubai air show. Emirates’ buying spree is in step with the ambitious plans of the city-state to establish itself as a regional hub for travel, […]