Category: World

HARARE, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s inflation rate, already the highest in the world, rose to a new peak of nearly 8,000 percent last month, figures released by the central statistics bureau showed on Wednesday.“The year-on-year inflation rate in September 2007 was 7,892.1 percent, gaining 1,389.3 percentage points on the August rate of 6,592.8 […]

HONG KONG, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) – The number of dollar millionaires in Asia has swelled by 8.6 percent, with Japan home to more than 1.47 million, a report published Wednesday found. Japan has 43.7 percent of the region’s High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) — those with assets of more than one million dollars excluding […]

SINGAPORE, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) – Oil prices eased slightly in Asia on Wednesday but remained above 87 dollars a barrel in a market worried over a potential Turkish incursion into northern Iraq. New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, was 18 cents lower in early morning trade at […]

WASHINGTON, Oct 16, 2007 (AFP) – Nearly two-thirds of US medical school department chairs maintain some form of personal or financial links to the private sector, according to a study published Tuesday.The study, published in the October 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, also urges greater transparency and “underscore the need […]

MUMBAI, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) – Indian share prices plunged more than nine percent Wednesday, forcing a trading halt, after the market watchdog proposed restrictions on purchases by overseas investors, dealers said.They said the plunge followed a notice by the Securities and Exchange Board of India saying it would consider curbs on the use of […]

SINGAPORE, Oct 16, 2007 (AFP) – Oil traded at a record high in Asia of 86.29 dollars a barrel on Tuesday amid mounting tension between Turkey and Kurdish rebels in Iraq.In early morning trade New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, was 16 cents higher than the 86.13 dollars […]

OAKLAND, California, Oct 16, 2007 (AFP) – Environmentalist lawyers are threatening to sue Apple in 60 days if the iconic US company doesn’t make iPhones greener or warn buyers of toxins in the devices.The Center for Environmental Health in Oakland, California, sent Apple notice on Monday after environmental activist group Greenpeace released a scientific analysis […]

WELLINGTON, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) – New Zealand’s inflation rate for the September quarter was held to an unexpectedly low 0.5 percent, pinning the annual rate to 1.8 percent, according to official figures released Monday.New Zealand inflation lower than expected The lower than forecast result — attributed to lower prices in health and education due […]

MUMBAI, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) – India’s benchmark Sensex index surged more than three percent to a fresh intraday record on Monday, crossing the 19,000-point mark for the first time ever, led by buying from overseas funds, dealers said.They said a series of record highs on the Mumbai stock exchange, during a 3,000-point climb in […]

WASHINGTON, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) – The new heads at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund face the tough task of restoring credibility to the powerful financial bodies which hold an annual summit this month, analysts say.“Both (Robert) Zoellick and Dominique Strauss-Kahn are certainly competent people.But I don’t think it is so easy […]

HARARE, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) – The Zimbabwean government authorised Friday new increases in the prices of basis foodstuffs in a bid to ease widespread shortages that followed an order for retailers to halve their tariffs. The National Incomes and Pricing Commission announced it had approved rises of between 50 percent and 200 percent for […]

WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) – A former top US military commander in Iraq said Friday that the current White House strategy in Iraq will not achieve victory in the four-and-a-half-year war, which he described as “a nightmare with no end in sight.” In the bluntest assessment of Iraq by a former senior Pentagon official […]