Category: World

WASHINGTON, Aug 7, 2007 (AFP) – The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday it was keeping US interest rates unchanged at 5.25 percent as it acknowledged concerns about tightening credit and a persistent housing market slump.The central bank has now kept US interest rates steady for just over 13 months since June of 2006.The 10 policymakers of […]

LONDON, Aug 7, 2007 (AFP) – The doors to the biggest pub in the world swing open Tuesday as the 30th Great British Beer Festival gets underway. The annual bash, which raises a glass to finely-crafted ales from around Britain and the globe — and hurls bland, fizzy lager straight down the sink — promises […]

COLOMBO, Aug 6, 2007 (AFP) – Two senior Maldivian ministers have quit the cabinet accusing President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of obstructing reform, officials and dissidents said Monday.Attorney General Hassan Saeed and Justice Minister Mohamed Jameel quit Sunday blaming Gayoom, Asia’s longest-serving ruler, of blocking reforms ranging from a new constitution to independence of the judiciary. […]

SYDNEY, Aug 7, 2007 (AFP) – An Australian interest rate rise Wednesday is almost a certainty, according to economists, creating a political headache for Prime Minister John Howard’s conservative government. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will announce the results of Tuesday’s monthly monetary policy meeting early Wednesday, with most economists tipping a 0.25 point […]

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7, 2007 (AFP) – Asian low-cost airline pioneer Tony Fernandes looks set to score a major coup with British businessman Richard Branson coming on board to help get his struggling, high-risk long-haul venture off the ground, analysts said Tuesday.Branson of Virgin Group is to take a 20 percent stake in Malaysia’s AirAsia […]

LANGKAWI, Malaysia, Aug 6, 2007 (AFP) – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, internationally condemned for his nation’s economic meltdown and human rights abuses, was given a warm welcome Monday at an anti-poverty summit in Malaysia, delegates said.While he has proved elusive to the packs of journalists and photographers staking out the venue, he was said to […]

WASHINGTON, Aug 4, 2007 (AFP) – A US soldier was sentenced Saturday to 110 years in jail for raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and slaying her family, the army said.That investigation focused a critical light on the US military’s controversial rules of engagement in Iraq.“Private First Class Jesse Spielman was sentenced to 110 […]

MUSINA, South Africa, Aug 5, 2007 (AFP) – James Diop rings up another sale and then contemplates his good fortune to work in a supermarket in South Africa as the stores across the border in Zimbabwe grow emptier by the day.“We’ve had a 300 percent increase in sales since June which is unprecedented … and […]

TOKYO, Aug 5, 2007 (AFP) – Fearing their government cares more about big business than small farmers, Japan’s rural dwellers are deserting the ruling conservative camp, leaving its plan to open up the agriculture market in doubt.With the opposition now in control of one house of parliament, experts say the government may find it harder […]

BEIJING, Aug 4, 2007 (AFP) – China has established a blacklist of companies that have violated rules on the quality of exports, the commerce ministry said Saturday amid growing global concern about the safety of China-made goods.“We have set up a blacklist system for companies in the exporting sector and punished some companies that have […]

NEW DELHI, Aug 3, 2007 (AFP) – India’s inflation rate eased to 4.36 percent on falling food prices, official data on Friday showed, after the central bank held benchmark interest rates steady earlier in the week. Inflation dropped in line with market expectations for the week ended July 21 from 4.41 per cent for the […]

NEW DELHI, Aug 3, 2007 (AFP) – India and the United States unveiled on Friday the text of an operating agreement for their controversial civilian nuclear technology deal, with key provisions on fuel supplies and safeguards.The agreement, which took two years to complete, spells out how a plan for Washington to share nuclear technology with […]