Category: World

NEW YORK, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) – A rare copy of the Magna Carta, a 13th century English document enshrining the rule of law, is to go on sale in New York in December, in one of the most important ever sales of a document.The royal charter, dated 1297 and bearing the seal of King […]

WASHINGTON, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) – Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said Sunday the US economy has a better than evens chance of beating a recession but warned that a housing slowdown could hit spending hard. “We’re heading for a slowdown,” he said on NBC in the latest television appearance to publicize his new […]

PARIS, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) – European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet said Sunday that France’s public finances were in “very great difficulty” with the worst public spending to output ratio in the European Union. “I would say that French public finances are in very great difficulty,” Trichet said in an interview on Europe 1 […]

WASHINGTON, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) – Looking for a new home with a bit more space as well as a 1950s Cold War ambiance? A US intercontinental ballistic missile base, equipped with a vast underground network of tunnels and rooms but no atomic warheads, is for sale in a remote corner of the United States. […]

WASHINGTON, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) – The turmoil stemming from the US subprime property loan market and tighter credit will have a “far-reaching” impact on the world economy, the International Monetary Fund said Monday.“Downside risks have increased significantly and even if those risks fail to materialize, the implications of this period of turbulence will be […]

WASHINGTON, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) – The dollar’s weakness and the euro’s rise to record highs have raised questions about confidence in the US currency following a surprising Federal Reserve half-point rate cut, analysts say. Some are concerned that the dollar’s woes may prompt central banks to cash in their greenbacks, provoking a further downward […]

INDJIJA, Serbia, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) – Goran Jesic, a young mayor with a reputation for investment coups, will sign a deal this week with an Indian company to build an IT park here, yet another win for this tiny Serbian town already hailed as an “economic miracle.” Jesic is confident the project for the […]

WUHU, China, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) – China’s Chery Auto sales vice president Jin Yibo remembers when the roof in the president’s office had a leak so big that they had to put out buckets to collect the water. “Those were tough times,” said Jin, shaking his head in disbelief as he recalled Chery’s humble […]

WASHINGTON, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) – Ambitious plans for big Wi-Fi networks to provide free or low-cost wireless Internet access are being abandoned or scaled back by US cities as the economics of the deals turn out to be more challenging than expected. San Francisco and Chicago in recent weeks abruptly halted plans to set […]

NEW YORK, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) – The dollar sank to a record low against the euro Thursday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned that US mortgage woes may deepen, raising hopes of interest rate cuts. Also weighing on the US currency were rumors that Saudi Arabia is going to drop the domestic currency’s […]

HONG KONG, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) – The former president of the World Bank said Friday that rich countries were ill-prepared to deal with the “tectonic shift” in economic power towards developing nations, in particular to India and China.James Wolfensohn said rich nations still treated major developing nations with a “colonial” attitude and had not […]

CHENNAI, India, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) – A state leader in India has dismissed a deity worshipped by millions as a “big lie”, deepening a highly sensitive row over plans to dredge a shipping lane through an area sacred to Hindus. The chief minister of India’s southern Tamil Nadu state said the government was justified […]