Category: World

BEIJING, July 12, 2007 (AFP) – A decades-long search by the world’s tallest man for a bride finally came to an end on Thursday when the Chinese herdsman married a woman who barely stands up to his elbow.Bao Xishun, who stands 2.36 metres (seven feet nine inches), wed sales clerk Xia Shujun in a traditional […]

NEW YORK, July 11, 2007 (AFP) – The euro surged to a record high against the dollar Wednesday on growing concerns about risky loans in the US property market and a European Central Bank hint of an interest rate hike.In late New York trade, the dollar stood at 1.2062 Swiss francs, up from 1.2019 Tuesday. […]

TOKYO, July 12, 2007 (AFP) – McDonald’s said Thursday it will launch a chain of coffeeshops in Japan, hoping to tap into the country’s growing love of coffee but at lower prices than rivals.The Japanese unit of the global burger empire said it will open 15 “McCafes” in the Tokyo region next month and hoped […]

SANTIAGO, July 10, 2007 (AFP) – Copper prices soared Tuesday as labor strikes pressured some of the largest copper mines in Chile, which supplies one-third of the world’s supply of the metal.“There is a direct impact on the mine’s production.Because of the violence by a group of subcontractors, it was decided to suspend ore extraction, […]

LONDON, July 9, 2007 (AFP) – The British finance ministry wants to shut down the government arms sales department, the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO), The Guardian reported on Monday.Citing unnamed political sources, the daily said that former Treasury minister Stephen Timms had ordered a review of DESO because of criticisms that it helped subsidise […]

LONDON, July 9, 2007 (AFP) – World oil prices fell on Monday after rebels in key energy producer Nigeria freed a three-year old British girl. The kidnapping last week of Margaret Hill, along with US supply concerns, had pushed oil prices to near 11-month highs on Friday, above 76 dollars a barrel in London. In […]

LISBON, July 8, 2007 (AFP) – Seven “new” wonders of the world including the Great Wall of China and the Coliseum in Rome, selected by nearly 100 million voters and upsetting cultural experts, were announced late Saturday at a celebrity-studded televised ceremony in the Portuguese capital. The others are the Taj Mahal in India, the […]

NEW DELHI, July 8, 2007 (AFP) – Kishore Biyani, known as India’s “King of Retail”, is spending the weekend his favourite way: trawling the aisles of one of his Big Bazaar supermarkets, eyeing what customers are loading up on.“Modern (chain store) retail makes up about eight percent of total retail in India and is expected […]

SEATTLE, Washington, July 6, 2007 (AFP) – The revolutionary materials used to build Boeing’s ground-breaking Dreamliner 787 passenger jet look set to transform the civil aviation industry forever, officials said Friday. Speaking to journalists ahead of the 787’s formal roll-out on Sunday, Boeing officials declared that the composite plastics that make up around 50 percent […]

HYDERABAD, India, July 7, 2007 (AFP) – A baby girl buried alive by her grandfather in southern India was in good condition on Saturday after being rescued, hospital officials said. The child’s grandfather and mother have been arrested for attempted murder following the baby’s rescue in Mahbubnagar district, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Hyderabad, […]

BEIJING, July 6, 2007 (AFP) – The mayor of one of China’s showpiece economic cities has urged his 11 million residents to stop buying cars in a bid to ease worsening traffic and pollution woes, state media reported Friday. The booming southern city of Shenzhen, just across from the border from Hong Kong, now has […]

SEOUL, July 6, 2007 (AFP) – South Korean health campaigners Friday criticised three university hospitals for accepting more than one million dollars from a US tobacco giant for research into smoking. “I don’t think my research will be used by the tobacco company to boost sales. I believe anti-smoking groups are protesting my research because […]