Category: World

SYDNEY, October 21, 2008 (AFP) – Australia’s largest mortgage fund, Challenger Howard, is set to freeze investor redemptions following a rush of withdrawals sparked by the government’s guarantee of bank deposits, a report said Tuesday. The Australian Financial Review reported that the 2.9-billion-dollar (two billion US) fund would act imminently to prevent a flight of […]

GENEVA, October 20, 2008 (AFP) – The number of anti-dumping probes launched by trading nations against alleged unfairly-priced imports surged 39 percent in the first half of the year, with China a key target, the WTO said Monday. Between January and June 2008, 16 World Trade Organization members initiated 85 new probes, compared to 61 […]

CIXI, October 21, 2008 (AFP) – Richard Fan is preparing for what may be the worst crisis of his six-year manufacturing career as the world markets that made his business in eastern China thrive are drying up at an alarming rate. Standing on the shop floor of Henwei Industrial, which produces everything from bottle openers […]

WEST PALM BEACH, October 21, 2008 (AFP) – Democrat Barack Obama will leave the White House trail later this week to dash to the side of his gravely ill 85-year-old grandmother in Hawaii, just 11 days before the election. The Illinois senator will cancel events in midwestern Iowa and Wisconsin and head to his native […]

TEHRAN, October 21, 2008 (AFP) – Iran’s oil minister said on Tuesday that Tehran believes OPEC should cut production by between two million and 2.5 million barrels a day, and that prices could go higher than 150 dollars a barrel.Attiyah also said OPEC “might be obliged to reduce production to balance supply and demand,” at […]

NEW DELHI, October 21, 2008 (AFP) – India said Tuesday its planned global auction for airwaves to offer high-speed third generation mobile phone services will likely be completed by mid-January.The auction of 3G phone spectrum could spur greater growth in the world’s fastest-expanding mobile market, which has been adding eight million new subscribers monthly, and […]

PARIS, October 20, 2008 (AFP) – IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s had only a “one-night stand” with a member of the world finance body’s staff, his wife insisted Sunday as the French establishment rallied round the former socialist minister. “We have moved on,” said television journalist Anne Sinclair, insisting in her personal blog that she still […]

PARIS, October 20, 2008 (AFP) – The chairman and director general of the French bank Caisse d’Epargne quit Sunday over an 800 million dollar derivative trading loss at the height of the global finance crisis. Chairman Charles Milhaud said in a statement after an emergency supervisory board meeting that he was taking full responsibility for […]

PARIS, October 20, 2008 (AFP) – Shares in French bank Societe Generale slumped in morning trading here on Monday, showing a loss of 10.17 percent to 40.69 euros on rumours that the bank needs new capital. The shares showed a loss of about 12.0 percent at one point. The overall Paris market was showing a […]

NEW DELHI, October 20, 2008 (AFP) – India must brace itself for slower growth due to worldwide financial turmoil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned Monday, as the central bank cut a key lending rate to shore up the economy.India was experiencing the “ripple effects” of the worst financial crisis in nearly 80 years and “must […]

NEW YORK, October 18, 2008 (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund has opened an investigation of its director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his intimate ties to a subordinate employee — an affair that echoes the scandal that ousted Paul Wolfowitz from the World Bank last year. The IMF, one of the main players in coordinating global […]

NEW DELHI, October 19, 2008 (AFP) – Tata group chief Ratan Tata, forced to relocate production of the world’s cheapest car from eastern India, has warned there could be a flight of capital and industry from the poverty-hit region. In an open letter to residents of communist-ruled West Bengal, Tata asked whether they wanted to […]