Category: World

BEIJING, Aug 28, 2007 (AFP) – A bid by China’s Lenovo to buy major European personal computer maker Packard Bell will probably fail due to an acquisition by rival Acer, state media said Tuesday.The Lenovo plan may be aborted after Taiwan’s Acer announced Monday it had signed a deal to buy Gateway for 710 million […]

MALE, August, 2007 (AFP) – Asia’s longest serving leader, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, says he wants to be the first directly elected president of the Maldives after winning a landslide victory for his political reform package.However, the country has yet to stage a multi-party election.Gayoom has previously been the sole presidential candidate nominated by a 50-member […]

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 26, 2007 (AFP) – US Internet titan Yahoo on Monday is introducing an upgraded free e-mail service with enhancements that include letting people send text messages from computers to mobile telephones.The improved Yahoo! Mail being rolled out around the world in the coming weeks is the most extensive overhaul of the web-based […]

TOKYO, Aug 27, 2007 (AFP) – Japanese share prices rose 1.06 percent in morning trade Monday with sentiment boosted by solid gains on Wall Street last week as fears eased over a credit crunch, dealers said. The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index of leading shares was up 172.92 points at 16,421.89 at the lunch […]

SINGAPORE, Aug 24, 2007 (AFP) – An online auction for seats on the first commercial flight of the super jumbo Airbus A380, between Singapore and Sydney, was to begin Monday night, a Singapore Airlines spokesperson said.“The auction proper will start at 8:00 (pm),” or 1200 GMT, the spokesperson told AFP. Seats are being offered for […]

HYDERABAD, India, Aug 26, 2007 (AFP) – Romanna was bleeding and in shock after being wounded in a series of terror blasts that rocked this southern Indian city late Saturday, killing 36 people and injuring 60. A string of explosions went off in an auditorium packed with families watching a laser show, while other blasts […]

HYDERABAD, India, Aug 26, 2007 (AFP) – Indian security forces launched a manhunt Sunday for those behind twin bombings in the southern city of Hyderabad that killed 42 people, with officials pinning the blame on Islamic militants.More than 50 others were injured in the blasts late Saturday, which ripped through a packed street restaurant in […]

BEIJING, Aug 25, 2007 (AFP) – China will invest more than 1.33 billion yuan (176 million dollars) to clean up the environment after decades of frantic economic growth, state media said Saturday. The money will be earmarked mainly for monitoring and reducing pollutant emissions, and for a new system of emission trading, the China Daily […]

NEW DELHI, Aug 24, 2007 (AFP) – The head of India’s Tata conglomerate confirmed Friday that his group was interested in bidding for luxury British car brands Jaguar and Land Rover, in an interview with an Indian news channel.Last month, Indian news reports said that two Indian automakers — Tata Motors and the Mahindra group […]

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 24, 2007 (AFP) – Anglo-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch/Shell, whose top executives are under threat of arrest, accused the Argentine government of “discrimination” in a page-wide advert published Friday in leading newspapers.“The discrimination Shell is being subjected to is inadmissible,” said company president Juan Aranguren in the statement, adding that the firm […]

CARACAS, Aug 24, 2007 (AFP) – Lawmakers Friday launched a national campaign for constitutional reform to consolidate President Hugo Chavez’s power and socialist agenda that a weak and splintered opposition seems powerless to stop.With Chavez loyalists taking up all 167 seats of the single-chamber legislature, the constitutional reform is assured passage before it is put […]

NEW YORK, Aug 24, 2007 (AFP) – Wall Street found its footing over the past week after the market’s drubbing earlier this month, as investors pondered whether the storm over housing and a related credit squeeze was over. Despite a strong rebound in the week to Friday, analysts said they expect nervous trading ahead with […]