Category: World

SINGAPORE, May 15, 2006 (AFP) – The commercial aviation sector faces a critical five years where the two key players, airlines and airport operators, must take the initiative to innovate ahead of a new era in passenger travel, industry experts said Monday Those who refuse to adapt will be left behind and could become takeover […]

WASHINGTON, May 15, 2006 (AFP) – Don’t be so loud.Listen. Dress up. Those are among the tips offered to US business executives traveling abroad in a new guide aimed at countering the image of the “ugly American”.Launched this month by a non-profit group concerned about mounting anti-Americanism worldwide, the “World Citizens Guide” has 16 suggestions […]

KUALA LUMPUR, May 15, 2006 (AFP) – Malaysian parents anxious to know what their children are up to at school will soon be able to receive daily SMS text messages from schools. The service is being offered at 88 schools in a pilot project but will be made available nationwide over the next two years. […]

TOKYO, May 15, 2006 (AFP) – “A salaryman can never have high hopes,” Takao Kimijima says on a Tokyo street as he finishes a puff on his cigarette outside his non-smoking building.The soft-spoken 30-year-old is not among the needy but a dark-suited corporate researcher who earns five million yen (45,000 dollars) a year, slightly above […]

NEW DELHI, May 14, 2006 (AFP) – The clamour is growing for Rahul Gandhi, scion of India’s most powerful political dynasty, to step into the spotlight after steering his mother Sonia Gandhi to a landslide by-election win.“Son Rises,” said the Times of India in a headline after Sonia racked up a record 417,000-vote victory margin […]

LONDON, May 14, 2006 (AFP) – The prices of commodities such as oil, copper, aluminium, platinum and sugar are smashing records — and will head higher owing to fierce demand from economic powerhouses India and China, analysts say. With sizzling rates of growth in the two emerging giants, home to one third of the world’s […]

NEW YORK, May 14, 2006 (AFP) – Microsoft and Google are girding for battle for supremacy over the information technology sector, a duel watched closely by others in the sector.The spectacular rise of Google in the past few years has raised questions about whether the Internet search titan is on track to dethrone Microsoft and […]

NEW DELHI, May 14, 2006 (AFP) – The clamour is growing for Rahul Gandhi, scion of India’s most powerful political dynasty, to step into the spotlight after steering his mother Sonia Gandhi to a landslide by-election win.“Son Rises,” said the Times of India in a headline after Sonia racked up a record 417,000-vote victory margin […]

HARARE, May 12, 2006 (AFP) – Zimbabwe said on Friday its inflation rate had crossed the landmark 1,000-percent threshold, arguably the highest in the world, with economists expressing pessimism about any major improvement soon. The Central Statistical Office said the year-on-year inflation rate in April was 1,042.9 percent, up 129.3 percentage points from March, in […]

HARARE, May 12, 2006 (AFP) – Zimbabwe said on Friday its inflation rate had crossed the landmark 1,000-percent threshold, arguably the highest in the world, with economists expressing pessimism about any major improvement soon. The Central Statistical Office said the year-on-year inflation rate in April was 1,042.9 percent, up 129.3 percentage points from March, in […]

AGRA, India, May 11, 2006 (AFP) – An Indian archaeologist is praying for a respite from a heat wave engulfing the Taj Mahal town of Agra, warning that heavy dust in the dry air could permanently scar the marble monument to love.Temperatures hovered this week at 45 Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) in the city, 200 […]

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2006 (AFP) – The global market for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions — an innovative offshoot of the Kyoto pact on global warming — has shown explosive growth, the World Bank said Wednesday.But in a new report, the World Bank also noted that recent events in the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) […]