Category: World

WASHINGTON, September 16, 2008 (AFP) – US consumer prices dropped 0.1 percent in August as falling energy costs eased inflation pressures, government data showed Tuesday. The softer inflation came as welcome news for an economy battered by a credit crunch and real estate woes, analysts said. Some said it could make it easier for the […]

LONDON, September 16, 2008 (AFP) – British 12-month inflation hit a fresh 16-year high of 4.7 percent in August on the back of soaring domestic energy bills, official data showed. Britain’s economy experienced zero percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the second quarter, which was the country’s weakest performance for 16 years. Despite the […]

WASHINGTON, September 15, 2008 (AFP) – A last-ditch effort to find a buyer for troubled Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers appeared near collapse Sunday in a turbulent weekend for the finance sector.As emergency weekend talks on Lehman’s woes were being held in New York, a London source at British bank Barclays, who requested anonymity, […]

WASHINGTON, September 14, 2008 (AFP) – Hurricane Ike appears to have damaged about 10 oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, US officials said Sunday, raising concerns that the storm could hurt oil production and lead to a spike in prices at US gas stations. Eileen Angelico, a spokeswoman with the US Mineral Management Service […]

MUMBAI, September 15, 2008 (AFP) – Indian shares tumbled 5.19 percent within minutes of opening on Monday over fears for the global financial system as the fate of Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers hung in the balance, dealers said. The BSE benchmark 30 share Sensex index slumped 727.95 points to 13,272.86 in early morning trade. […]

LONDON, September 14, 2008 (AFP) – The calls for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to face a leadership contest grew Sunday as former ministers attacked his performance and more party members backed a showdown. The mutiny against Brown gathered pace less than 48 hours after a member of his government for the first time broke […]

NICE, September 14, 2008 (AFP) – The crisis roiling the financial sector will probably grind on for some time, but European banks should be able to avert serious trouble, EU finance chiefs said. US investment bank Lehman Brothers’ fight for its very survival over the weekend highlighted just how fragile the sector remains more than […]

NEW YORK, September 12, 2008 (AFP) – Oil prices closed narrowly mixed Friday amid a near-total shutdown of offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, where a massive Hurricane Ike was bearing down deep in the heart of the US oil industry. In choppy trade, the market also watched signs of further financial stress in […]

GALVESTON, September 13, 2008 (AFP) – Mammoth Hurricane Ike lashed the Texas Gulf coast with rain and wind late Friday, flooding parts of Galveston and threatening “catastrophic” destruction as it heads on a path towards Houston, the fourth largest US city. More than a million people have fled their homes as the Texas-size storm bore […]

BEIJING, September 13, 2008 (AFP) – China’s health minister said 432 babies had kidney stones after drinking contaminated milk powder and vowed to punish those responsible as the country’s latest product safety scandal escalated Saturday. Gao Qiang said production had been halted at Sanlu Group after industrial chemical melamine, added by farmers and milk sellers […]

CARACAS, September 12, 2008 (AFP) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expelled the US envoy to Caracas late Thursday and threatened to halt crude exports to the United States on a day he highlighted the recent arrival of two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers. Chavez on Thursday ordered US ambassador Patrick Duddy to leave the country within […]

TOKYO, September 11, 2008 (AFP) – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook northern Japan on Thursday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, which warned of mild tsunami seismic waves. The undersea earthquake occurred at 9:21 am (0021 GMT) about 20 kilometres deep (12.4 miles) off Hokkaido island’s Tokachi region, some 700 kilometres north of Tokyo, the agency […]