Category: World

TOKYO, October 28, 2008 (AFP) – The euro dropped to 1.2328 dollars in Asian trade on Tuesday, the lowest level since April 2006, pressured by growing fears of recession in Europe. The euro later recovered slightly to 1.2357 dollars, still sharply lower compared with its level of 1.2520 dollars in New York overnight.Worries about the […]

HONG KONG, October 28, 2008 (AFP) – Hundreds of senior staff at one of Asia’s top brokerages, CLSA, have been asked to take a pay cut of up to 25 percent in a bid to avoid redundancies, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.A total of 500 senior brokers, analysts and managers at the Asian brokerage unit of […]

BEIJING, October 28, 2008 (AFP) – Wal-Mart said Tuesday it had pulled a major brand of eggs from its stores in China, as concerns rose that an industrial chemical found in Chinese dairy products was in the nation’s wider food chain.The announcement by the US retail giant came after authorities in Hong Kong said eggs […]

ANNECY, October 23, 2008 (AFP) – President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the creation of a French sovereign wealth fund on Thursday, promising to protect the strategic heights of the economy from the global financial storm. Declaring that the recent turmoil had killed off the “dictatorship of the market”, Sarkozy vowed to lead Europe towards a model […]

WASHINGTON, October 22, 2008 (AFP) – The US Federal Reserve reached deeper into the troubled financial system on Tuesday, offering up to 540 billion dollars of help to money market mutual funds in its latest response to the credit crunch. Under a new program, the Fed offered the funds to back a private sector initiative […]

SYDNEY, October 22, 2008 (AFP) – Australia is considering changing its multi-billion-dollar bank deposit guarantee scheme by charging savers who have more than one million dollars in the bank, Treasurer Wayne Swan said Wednesday. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced on October 12 an unlimited three-year guarantee on all deposits in institutions such as banks, credit […]

LONDON, October 22, 2008 (AFP) – The British pound fell Wednesday to a five-year low point against the dollar after Bank of England governor Mervyn King indicated that Britain was “likely” entering a recession. Sterling sank to 1.6203 against the dollar shortly before 0600 GMT, which was its lowest level against the greenback since September […]

SINGAPORE, October 22, 2008 (AFP) – World oil prices weakened in Asian trade Wednesday on renewed worries about energy demand in the face of slowing global growth, dealers said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, fell 2.72 dollars to 69.46 dollars a barrel from its close of 72.18 dollars in the […]

GRENOBLE, October 22, 2008 (AFP) – French factory workers were exposed to excessive levels of radiation as they handled luminous lift buttons made using unsafe material from India, officials said. France’s Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) classed the incident at “Level Two” on a scale of seven because of the exposure of more than 10 people […]

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 […]

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 […]