Category: World

WASHINGTON, September 11, 2008 (AFP) – US Department of the Interior employees who handled billions of dollars in oil contracts improperly engaged in sex with energy company employees, a report released Wednesday said. The report drafted by the department’s inspector general Earl Devaney deplored “a culture of ethical failure” and said the investigation uncovered a […]

KUWAIT CITY, September 11, 2008 (AFP) – Kuwaiti stocks ended the week through Thursday down six percent on lack of cashflow drained by huge IPOs and a strict monetary policy to combat inflation, analysts said. The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) Index finished the week at 13,123.90 points, the lowest level in eight months. The index […]

VIENNA, September 9, 2008 (AFP) – Oil prices dipped below 100 dollars for the first time since April on Tuesday as OPEC met in Vienna, with pressure growing within the exporter group for Saudi Arabia to rein in its production. OPEC is expected to announce an unchanged production policy that in theory binds 12 of […]

NEW YORK, September 9, 2008 (AFP) – Shares of Lehman Brothers went into a freefall Tuesday as hopes faded for an injection of fresh capital for the ailing Wall Street investment bank, analysts said. Lehman, one of Wall Street’s most prominent investment firms, saw its shares tumble 44.95 percent to end at 7.79. The shares […]

LONDON, September 9, 2008 (AFP) – Oil prices slumped to 102 dollars a barrel on Tuesday, the lowest level since the start of April, as the market waited to see whether OPEC would announce a change to its crude output levels. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October hit exactly 102 dollars a barrel […]

BRUSSELS, September 9, 2008 (AFP) – EU Economics chief Joaquin Almunia warned on Tuesday that soon-to-be published growth forecasts would paint a dismal picture of the European economy. After the eurozone economy contracted 0.2 percent in the second quarter, Almunia noted that ECB and OECD forecasts for the rest of 2008 and early 2009 “are […]

NEW YORK, September 9, 2008 (AFP) – World economic growth is set to continue to slow in the second half of 2008 before a gradual recovery in 2009, the number two official at the International Monetary Fund, John Lipsky, said Tuesday. “The global economy is projected to slow further in the second half of 2008, […]

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2008 (AFP) – The US government took over ailing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Sunday and placed them in a “conservatorship” in a bid to avert a financial system meltdown from the housing crisis. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced the US regulator was seizing control of the government-chartered, shareholder-owned […]

VIENNA, September 7, 2008 (AFP) – The question facing the OPEC oil producer group which meets Tuesday is when, not if, to cut its oil production target as crude prices slide in the face of weakening economic growth, analysts say. Most analysts surveyed by AFP expect the 13-nation cartel to agree to trim its output […]

SINGAPORE, September 8, 2008 (AFP) – Singapore Airlines (SIA) said Monday it will cut fuel surcharges on some of its international flights after recent declines in jet fuel prices. The cuts, ranging from four to 10 US dollars, will take effect Tuesday and apply to flights from Singapore to Southeast Asian countries, Australia, New Zealand […]

KUWAIT CITY, September 8, 2008 (AFP) – Kuwait’s Oil Minister Mohammad Al-Olaim said on Monday as he left for an OPEC meeting that he saw no need to cut the cartel’s oil production.New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, rose 65 cents to 106.88 dollars a barrel in electronic deals while […]

WASHINGTON, September 7, 2008 (AFP) – The historic, twisting, cliffhanger White House race is swinging into an eight-week sprint to the finish, with John McCain and Barack Obama locked up in the polls and bare knuckle-rhetoric flying. Whatever happens, the face of American politics is about to be remade. Democrat Obama, 47, would be the […]