Category: World

BEIJING, June 15, 2007 (AFP) – Chinese authorities have removed a giant Buddhist statue from Tibet’s oldest monastery, in a move US-based rights group said Friday reflected an ongoing crackdown in the Tibetan region.The 30-foot (nine metre) gold and copper-plated statue of Guru Rinpoche, the founder of Buddhism, was torn down by Chinese police in […]

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2007 (AFP) – The US Treasury stopped short of branding China a “currency manipulator” Wednesday even as new efforts were launched in Congress to punish Beijing for maintaining an undervalued yuan. The Treasury, in a much-anticipated semiannual report, said China’s tightly controlled exchange rates have led to a variety of economic problems […]

DZIALDOWO, Poland, June 14, 2007 (AFP) – It is the stuff of fairytales and happy endings, the story of a Polish railway worker who woke up to a new world of plenty after falling into a “coma” 19 years ago when Poland was still communist. “The only problem now is having the money to pay […]

RIYADH, June 11, 2007 (AFP) – Not even the king can save a convict on death row for premeditated murder from the executioner’s sword in Saudi Arabia.However, Amnesty International, in its 2007 report, said “many defendants complained that they were not represented by lawyers and were not informed of the progress of their trial”.The death […]

KATHMANDU, June 11, 2007 (AFP) – Tourism arrivals to Nepal have shot up nearly 45 percent since former Maoist rebels ended their bloody “people’s war” at the end of 2006, officials said Monday. Landlocked and impoverished, Nepal relies on tourism for about four percent of the country’s economy employment for some 300,000 people. “The last […]

SYDNEY, June 8, 2007 (AFP) – Rescue helicopters braved wild weather to airlift 21 crew members from a stricken freighter as pounding seas threatened to beach others on Australia’s east coast Friday.The Filipino and Korean crew on board the 30,000-tonne coal carrier Pasha Bulker, which ran aground off Newcastle harbour north of Sydney, were winched […]

DHAKA, June 7, 2007 (AFP) – Bangladesh’s emergency government was Thursday set to announce a slew of subsidy and welfare measures in a 12.6 billion dollar anti-inflation budget. The interim government’s finance minister, A.B. Mirza Azizul Islam, would announce the budget in a pre-recorded speech to be broadcast by radio and television stations. The military-backed […]

BEIJING, June 6, 2007 (AFP) – China’s central bank is on guard against the recent rise in food prices and might consider an interest rate hike to cool rising inflation, state media said Wednesday, citing the central bank chief. In a report to clients, Goldman Sachs forecast late last month that the rise in pork […]

PANAMA CITY, June 3, 2007 (AFP) – The head of the Organization of American States opened a hemispheric summit late Sunday with a warning against “silencing” political opponents, a week after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez shut down an opposition television station.“The first duty of a democratic government is broadening democracy,” OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel […]

NEW YORK, June 2, 2007 (AFP) – US authorities said Saturday they foiled an Islamic terrorist plot to bomb fuel supplies and pipelines at John F. Kennedy airport, averting a potentially catastrophic attack and “unthinkable” carnage at and around the massive airfield. Four suspected Islamic extremists — including Abdul Kadir, a former member of Guyana’s […]

June 03, 2007 (LBO) – The European Union (EU) has called on the Maldivian government to re-start talks with the opposition aimed to bring democracy to the islands. “The EU urgently calls upon the President of the Maldives to take concrete steps in this direction by creating an enabling environment for talks,” the EU said […]

June 2, 2007 (AFP) – Former Sri Lankan cricket coach Tom Moody says he is embarrassed by the derogatory reaction and constant harassment directed by Australian crowds towards Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.Muralitharan’s ultra-flexible bowling action has come under its heaviest scrutiny in Australia, where he has been called for throwing on two tours, prompting […]