Category: World

SAN FRANCISCO, May 23, 2008 (AFP) – Microsoft said Friday it is ending its quest to create an online library of the world’s books as the technology titan revamps its strategy to battle Internet search king Google.Live Search Books and Live Search Academics projects are being cancelled and the websites will be taken down next […]

BANGALORE, India, May 24, 2008 (AFP) – India’s gleaming new Bangalore international airport opened Saturday despite protests by residents and businesses who said getting there by road could prove a nightmare.The state-of-the-art 630-million-dollar facility sprang into life after a court threw out pleas by local people to keep the existing airport open for commercial flights. […]

BERLIN, May 24, 2008 (AFP) – While economists quibble, the world’s richest man has decided: the United States is already in recession.So Warren Buffet tells German magazine Der Spiegel in an interview to be published on Monday. “It is perhaps not a recession in the way that economists would understand it…but people are already feeling […]

NEW DELHI, May 22, 2008 (AFP) – New draft texts on industrial goods aimed at clinching an elusive deal in global trade talks will have to be “completely revised,” India’s commerce minister said on Thursday.The World Trade Organisation’s Doha round of talks to reduce trade barriers was launched in 2001 with the target of reaching […]

NEW DELHI, May 23, 2008 (AFP) – India’s currency is feeling the pressure as world oil prices soar and foreign investors lose their “risk appetite” for emerging market assets amid global financial turmoil, analysts say.The Indian rupee — which a few months ago was trading at 10-year highs — now looks poised to post its […]

BRUSSELS, May 23, 2008 (AFP) – A key survey released Friday boosted fears that the eurozone is flagging, pointing to a sharp slowing in business activity as soaring oil prices, the high euro and the US-born credit crunch take their toll.The widely-watched eurozone’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI), compiled by NTC Research, found that business activity […]

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2008 (AFP) – The Federal Reserve sent out signals Wednesday the US economy will have to muddle through its crisis without further rate cuts, even as the central bank slashed its forecast for growth in 2008.Bethune said the “props” from the government’s 168-billion-dollar economic stimulus and tax rebate program will be “pulled […]

KUALA LUMPUR, May 22, 2008 (AFP) – Telekom Malaysia said Thursday its net profits in the first quarter fell 12.8 percent from a year ago to 519.7 million ringgit (162.4 million dollars) on higher operating and financing costs. Malaysia’s largest telecommunications firm said sales for the three months to March rose 10.6 percent to 4.6 […]

SINGAPORE, May 22, 2008 (AFP) – Oil smashed past 135 dollars a barrel for the first time Thursday, continuing its astonishing rise following unexpected drops in US crude and gasoline stocks in a tight market, dealers said.In Asian morning trade, New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, rose to a […]

SYDNEY, May 21, 2008 (AFP) – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urged company executives to rein in their salaries Wednesday, amid a furore over an 80 million dollar (76.8 million US) payout to the head of an investment bank. Speaking after it was revealed that outgoing Macquarie bank chief executive Allan Moss would receive a […]

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2008 (AFP) – Amid a surge in food prices blamed in part on US expansion of corn-based ethanol production, lawmakers, experts and industry officials are urging the government to rethink a new law mandating alternative fuels. The United States is the world’s top producer of corn-based ethanol, which the administration of President […]

KUALA LUMPUR, May 21, 2008 (AFP) – Malaysian former premier Mahathir Mohamad’s son quit the ruling party Wednesday after his father called for mass resignations to force the ouster of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.. Businessman Mokhzani Mahathir warned the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) was heading for “annihilation” unless Abdullah stepped down to take […]