Category: World

SHANGHAI, July 18, 2007 (AFP) – China’s East Star Airline said Wednesday it had won approval to fly overseas, the first private carrier to do so, as part of efforts to loosen the nation’s strictly controlled civil aviation sector.The airline based in central China said in a statement that it gained approval from aviation regulators […]

July 18, 2007 (AFP) – Maldives is seeking international investors to help build ten regional airports as part of a plan to develop nearly three dozen resort islands, a minister said on Wednesday. “We plan to build 10 domestic airports packaged with tourist resorts, to make it economically feasible to investors.The tenders will go out […]

HARARE, July 17, 2007 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s government was set to intensify its pricing crackdown, despite being condemned by the White House on Tuesday as a reckless move that would further fuel inflation and exacerbate food shortages.Nathan Shamuyarira, ZANU-PF’s secretary for information and publicity, said a meeting of the party’s politburo on Monday, chaired by […]

SAN FRANCISCO, July 16, 2007 (AFP) – Google announced Monday that it is shortening the lives of software “cookies” used to track users’ online preferences. In coming months Google will begin issuing cookies that automatically expire two years after a person visits the website provided they don’t return, according to the US firm’s global privacy […]

NEW DELHI, July 17, 2007 (AFP) – A condom flavoured with the popular mixture of betel nut and tobacco known as paan is to go on sale in India, newspapers said Tuesday.State-owned company Hindustan Latex has already tested the pungent and bitter mixture on their main market, sex workers, who preferred it to other flavours […]

DHAKA, July 17, 2007 (AFP) – Bangladesh’s army-backed emergency government on Tuesday ordered two former prime ministers to submit details of their financial affairs as part of its corruption crackdown, an official said.Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajed, who was arrested and detained over extortion allegations Monday, have each been asked to provide the information […]

TOULOUSE, France, July 16, 2007 (AFP) – France and Germany agree on the need to keep the European Central Bank free of political meddling, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday. “We are both in agreement on the fact that the European Central Bank is independent.It is very important,” Merkel told a joint news conference with […]

DHAKA, July 16, 2007 (AFP) – Former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed who led the country from 1996 to 2001 and faces charges of corruption and murder was arrested Monday, an aide said.“She has been arrested and taken away and is now being taken to the court,” Hasan Mahmud, personal secretary to Sheikh Hasina, […]

DHAKA, July 15, 2007 (AFP) – The small Buddhist community in Bangladesh plans to donate a few strands of a lock of hair said to have come from the Buddha to Sri Lanka as a goodwill gesture, officials said Sunday. Three cabinet ministers from majority-Buddhist Sri Lanka along with religious leaders are scheduled to arrive […]

HARARE, July 13, 2007 (AFP) – Authorities in Zimbabwe announced the arrest of hundreds more retailers and executives as part of an ongoing price crackdown Friday as it emerged the head of the central bank had warned against the blitz. Mugabe has warned that his government will seize and nationalise companies that refuse to toe […]

NEW YORK, July 13, 2007 (AFP) – News magnate Rupert Murdoch will expand his media empire with a business news channel to challenge industry leader CNBC, as he presses on with a bid to add The Wall Street Journal to his portfolio. The global media mogul has set October 15 as the launch date of […]