Category: World

LONDON, Nov 23, 2006 (AFP) – More than nine million pounds (13 million euros, 17 million dollars) of British government aid for victims of the Asian tsunami may not yet have been spent, a parliamentary committee said Thursday. The British government committed 75 million pounds in humanitarian assistance following the December 26, 2004 disaster, including […]

ISLAMABAD, Nov 23, 2006 (AFP) – Chinese President Hu Jintao promised a new era of cooperation with Pakistan Thursday as he arrived for a visit that will include the signing of a free trade accord with Beijing’s closest ally.Hu received a lavish ceremonial welcome for his four-day visit, the first in a decade by a […]

LONDON, Nov 22, 2006 (AFP) – European aircraft maker Airbus said Wednesday that its estimate of world demand for airliners in the next 20 years had leapt by 31.2 percent in two years to a total of 22,700. The surge from estimates in 2004 was being driven by demand from low-cost airlines and by growth […]

GENEVA, Nov 21, 2006 (AFP) – Some 8.6 million Asians are infected with the HIV virus, UNAIDS said on Tuesday, warning the disease is thriving on risky behaviour in Southeast Asia and slowly taking hold in China, the world’s most populous nation. An estimated 960,000 Asians were newly infected over the past year while about […]

SINGAPORE, Nov 20, 2006 (AFP) – Singapore raised its 2006 growth forecasts on Monday to 7.5-8.0 percent, a target analysts said is achievable after a better-than-expected third-quarter performance. Figures released by the MTI in its latest economic report showed third quarter growth was powered by the key manufacturing sector which surged 10.6 percent on the […]

DUBAI, Nov 20, 2006 (AFP) – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) president announced plans to gradually replace Asian workers with nationals to redress the demographic imbalance in his country, in a newspaper interview Monday. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nayhan told London-based Asharq Al-Awsat he was aware of “the seriousness of the imbalance” in the oil-rich […]

HANOI, Nov 18, 2006 (AFP) – Asia-Pacific leaders on Saturday put their political muscle behind the drive to free up global trade, but they struggled to find common ground on how best to tackle the North Korea nuclear crisis.The quest for consensus over the response to Pyongyang’s shock atom bomb test last month dominated both […]

WASHINGTON, Nov 16, 2006 (AFP) – Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman, whose ideas helped power a conservative policy revolution in the 1980s, died Thursday at the age of 94.Friedman died of heart failure in San Francisco, California, near Stanford University where he taught most recently, friends and associates said. Friedman won the Nobel prize for […]

SINGAPORE, Nov 17, 2006 (AFP) – US beverage giant Coca-Cola Company, in a long-term plan to diversify from soft drinks, will serve coffee and tea-making expertise from its first Asian specialty outlet, company executives said Friday. He described the concept as “pretty much a work in progress for the next six months.” – by Bernice […]

NEW DELHI, Nov 17, 2006 (AFP) – Ruling Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi on Friday outlined her vision of India’s future, not as a traditional military superpower, but as a force for world peace and prosperity.The Italian-born Congress leader, who spurned the premiership after her party scored an upset election victory in 2004, urged the […]

WASHINGTON, Nov 16, 2006 (AFP) – When Wayne Steinard visited his doctor earlier this year he faced two options: either undergo open heart surgery in the US for 100,000 dollars or have it done in India for 6,700 dollars. “I chose India,” the 59-year-old uninsured building contractor from Florida told AFP, reflecting a growing trend […]

BEIJING, Nov 15, 2006 (AFP) – China is planning to expand a consumption tax on luxury items and adjust upward other taxes in an effort to even out income distribution and reduce poverty, state press reported Wednesday.Ongoing tax reforms should include adjustments to the personal income tax, property tax, and consumption tax in an effort […]