Category: World

BEIJING, November 5, 2008 (AFP) – Governmental department spending in China in 2009 will be frozen at this year’s level, ending an annual five-percent increase following the global financial crisis, state media said Wednesday. “The budgets for next year should be capped at the same amount as this year’s and every project will be looked […]

KOGELO, November 5, 2008 (AFP) – Hundreds of villagers in Kogelo, Barack Obama’s Kenyan family homestead, erupted into song and dance at the news that the nation’s favourite son had won the US presidential election. Swinging twigs and chairs in the air, men cheered and clapped while women ululated and shouted “Obama!Obama!” in the village […]

WASHINGTON, November 3, 2008 (AFP) – The US Treasury said Monday it would seek to borrow a record 550 billion dollars in the October-December period to help stabilize the financial sector hammered by the global credit crisis. The fourth-quarter borrowing estimate was substantially higher than the 408 billion dollars announced in July, and is a […]

BRUSSELS, November 3, 2008 (AFP) – Finance ministers from the 15 nations sharing the euro have dropped a 2010 deadline for balancing their budgets, in the face of a severe economic downturn, their chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said Monday. Juncker told journalists that the deadline, which was agreed under much rosier economic conditions in April last […]

DUBAI, November 4, 2008 (AFP) – The vast Dubai Mall shopping centre is finally set to open for business on Tuesday but the success of the 20-billion-dollar project is far from certain amid the global economic crisis. The mall will be one of the world’s largest with 1,200 shops, four times as many as the […]

WASHINGTON, November 4, 2008 (AFP) – Americans crowded polling stations Tuesday to vote in their historic election, with front-running Democrat Barack Obama seeking to become the first black US president and Republican rival John McCain battling for a comeback.With predictions of record turnout, long queues stretched in the dark from polling stations waiting to open […]

BEIJING, November 3, 2008 (AFP) – The global financial crisis has made 2008 the worst year for China in recent memory, with growth and inflation posing serious challenges, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said in a signed article. “We must be aware that this year is the worst in recent times for our economic development,” Wen […]

SEOUL, November 3, 2008 (AFP) – South Korea Monday announced a 10.7 billion dollar plan to stimulate growth in the face of a global slowdown which is set to hit the crucial export sector.The government detailed plans to spend an extra 11 trillion won next year, plus tax cuts totalling three trillion, to boost sagging […]

CLEVELAND, November 2, 2008 (AFP) – White House front-runner Barack Obama Sunday hurtled into the last 48 hours of his epic campaign against Republican John McCain pledging to remake America as he presented a loving tableau of his youthful family. On the home stretch before Tuesday’s election, the Democrat bidding to be America’s first black […]

RIYADH, November 2, 2008 (AFP) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Sunday it is in the interests of oil-rich Gulf states to give funds to help countries hit by the world financial crisis.On the second day of a brief Gulf tour that started in Saudi Arabia, Brown also backed an enhanced role for them […]

LONDON, October 31, 2008 (AFP) – Oil prices fell heavily again on Friday as the prospect of a global recession and weakening energy demand weighed on the market, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery shed 1.46 dollars to 64.50 dollars per barrel. London’s Brent North Sea crude for December […]

WASHINGTON, October 31, 2008 (AFP) – The world faces a growing risk of conflict over the next 20 to 30 years amid an unprecedented transfer of wealth and power from West to East, the US intelligence chief has said. Michael McConnell, the director of national intelligence, predicted rising demand for scarce supplies of food and […]