Category: World

LONDON, July 5, 2007 (AFP) – The Bank of England raised its key interest rate by a quarter-point to 5.75 percent on Thursday, the highest level for more than six years, in a bid to dampen British inflation. The BoE’s move to hike the cost of borrowing for the fifth time since August 2006 had […]

SINGAPORE, July 5, 2007 (AFP) – Islamic banking and finance is likely to continue growing in the Asia Pacific region but the real test of its sustainability will be how the system reacts to a major financial crisis, a report said Thursday. The industry is set to develop its own identity separate from conventional banking […]

WASHINGTON, July 3, 2007 (AFP) – The mother of a US man whose 2006 execution took 86 minutes and involved sticking needles into him 19 times has sued the prison team which oversaw the execution for civil rights violations.On Monday Irma Clark filed suit in the Cincinnati, Ohio, district court, alleging her son Joseph Clark […]

BANGKOK, July 2, 2007 (AFP) – Health advocates called Monday for tougher regulations on tobacco, as officials from 145 countries met in Bangkok to discuss ways of boosting global efforts to stop smoking.The week-long meeting organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) aims to find ways of harmonising national laws to tighten tobacco controls, particularly […]

HONG KONG, July 1, 2007 (AFP) – When Thailand floated its currency on July 2, 1997, it meant to ease the immediate pressure on its faltering economy.Instead, it set off a chain reaction which destroyed many of the gains of Asia’s ‘economic miracle’ years as currencies, stocks, commodities and property prices went into free-fall and […]

DHAKA, July 1, 2007 (AFP) – Hundreds of textile factories in Bangladesh have failed to meet a government deadline to pay their workers even a paltry minimum wage of 25 dollars a month, an industry body said Sunday.Of the country’s more than 2400 garment factories, over 400 were still ignoring the rule on June 30, […]

KATHMANDU, June 30, 2007 (AFP) – Nepal’s central bank governor and another top official have been suspended after being charged with corruption involving the embezzlement of public funds, an official said on Saturday.The charges against Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Bijaya Nath Bhattarai and Executive Director Surendra Man Pradhan were laid by an anti-graft body tasked […]

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2007 (AFP) – The head of the International Monetary Fund, Rodrigo Rato, said Thursday he will step down in October for personal reasons, casting a cloud over the major internal reform effort he launched.The IMF chief’s announcement comes as the 185-nation financial institution faces criticism that it serves the interests of wealthy […]

HONG KONG, June 28, 2007 (AFP) – HSBC and Standard Chartered confirmed Thursday they were among banks targeted in a crackdown by China’s foreign exchange regulator on speculative capital inflows. The two banks said they had recently been inspected by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and had taken action to ensure they complied […]

TEHRAN, June 26, 2007 (AFP) – Angry Iranian youths attacked a petrol station in the capital Tehran on Tuesday, burning a car and pumps after the government announced it was going to begin rationing fuel, witnesses said.However, problems in distributing the cards have delayed implementation of the rest of the plan. Pumping gas into the […]

HARARE, June 27, 2007 (AFP) – Accountant Shawn Kureva was left cursing his decision to delay buying cement at a Harare hardware store until he had compared prices elsewhere in inflation-ravaged Zimbabwe. “(The) Chronicle can reveal that the British and United States goverments, after failing to incite public revolt against the government of Zimbabwe are […]

LONDON, June 27, 2007 (AFP) – Prime Minister Tony Blair resigned Wednesday, after a decade in power, handing over power to party rival Gordon Brown who has vowed to impose his own style on Britain. “I spoke to him about this on Friday night when he told me that he was going to take it […]