Category: World

JAKARTA, August 11, 2008 (AFP) – A tribal chief in Indonesia’s West Papua launched a campaign Monday to get compensation from US mining giant Freeport for environmental damage to his homelands, a report said. Fabianus P., chief of the Kapiraya tribe, said tailings from Freeport’s huge gold and copper mine in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua province […]

LONDON, August 11, 2008 (AFP) – A 93-year-old debut novelist has used the proceeds from her book to move her friends out of nursing homes and into her new country house, she said in British newspaper reports on Monday. When Lorna Page hit the jackpot with “A Dangerous Weakness”, a raunchy thriller set in the […]

SYDNEY, August 11, 2008 (AFP) – The plunging Australian dollar hit a new seven-month low on Monday as a fall in key commodity prices put the currency under pressure, ending months of highs. The currency opened at 88.49 US cents, down from 89.29 US cents on Friday and its weakest start since January 25. The […]

NEW DELHI, August 10, 2008 (AFP) – India’s top court has cleared South Korean steel giant Posco’s plan for a 12-billion-dollar plant in a controversial case seen pitting farmers’ interests against growing industrial development.In another key case viewed as a test of tribal rights, the court approved British mining company Vedanta Resources’ proposal to mine […]

MILAN, August 10, 2008 (AFP) – The Italian economy contracted in the second quarter, official data showed, adding to a deepening sense of gloom about the eurozone economy amid a flurry of bad news for the 15-nation bloc.Italy is the first eurozone country to reveal figures for the second quarter and a 0.3-percent quarter-on-quarter contraction […]

LONDON, August 10, 2008 (AFP) – Western concerns are growing over the impact of bloody clashes between Georgia and Russia on a key oil pipeline through the region from the Caspian Sea to the West, analysts say.While Georgia does not produce oil itself, US and European energy firms have counted on the pro-Western country — […]

WASHINGTON, August 9, 2008 (AFP) – The United States and European Union are leading a diplomatic push to prevent all-out war between Georgia and Russia, calling for a ceasefire as Russian tanks rolled into a rebel Georgian province. Envoys from the US, EU and Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were being deployed […]

LAS VEGAS, August 8, 2008 (AFP) – Computer security researchers on Thursday warned that online social networking websites are playgrounds for hackers who can easily take advantage of people’s trust. Opportunities for mischief abound as users place intimate details of their lives on profile pages and install mini-applications made by strangers that don’t always have […]

BANGKOK, August 8, 2008 (AFP) – Southeast Asian nations will sign a free trade pact with India in December on the sidelines of a regional summit in Bangkok, an official said Friday. Talks in Brunei removed the remaining obstacles to the pact, which will liberalise trade in goods between India and the 10-member Association of […]

LONDON, August 8, 2008 (AFP) – Crude prices slumped below 116 dollars a barrel on Friday as the market shrugged off confirmation that separatist Kurdish rebels were behind a blast that has cut a strategic oil pipeline in Turkey. Brent North Sea crude for September delivery shed 1.91 dollars to 115.99 dollars per barrel in […]

WASHINGTON, August 6, 2008 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday condemned the military coup in Mauritania and called for the release of the African country’s president and prime minister. “The United States condemns the Mauritanian military’s overthrow of the democratically elected Government of Mauritania and welcomes the statements by the African […]

FRANKFURT, August 7, 2008 (AFP) – Shares in the German insurance group Allianz plunged on Thursday after the group warned that it would not reach its operating profit target going into 2009 following a difficult second quarter.Allianz shares showed a loss of 3.52 percent to 109 euros in initial trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange […]