Category: World

CANNES, May 21, 2008 (AFP) – With India’s entertainment billionaires seemingly blessed with limitless pockets, Bollywood is flexing its movie muscle, taking on Hollywood in unexpected corners of the globe and buying up theatres worldwide.“Bollywood now has the muscle and (Indian) corporates have big money,” prominent Indian filmmaker Jagmohan Mundra told AFP. Mundra said Bollywood […]

GENEVA, May 21, 2008 (AFP) – Child obesity is ballooning into a big problem in China as ‘little emperors’ are increasingly getting an appetite for the Western couch-potato way of life, according to a study presented in Geneva.Almost one in five children under seven is overweight and more than seven percent are obese, according to […]

SAN FRANCISCO, May 19, 2008 (AFP) – Google on Monday launched Google Health, a long-anticipated medical records service letting US users store and manage their health care information online.The offering raises privacy concerns and draws yet another battle line between Internet search king Google and global software giant Microsoft, which began offering a similar HealthVault […]

LONDON, May 20, 2008 (AFP) – British clothes to food retailer Marks and Spencer posted annual profits of more than one billion pounds (1.2 billion euros, 1.9 billion dollars) Tuesday, the company said. Pre-tax profits of 1.1 billion pounds for the financial year to March 29 were 4.3 percent ahead of the previous 12-month period […]

WASHINGTON, May 18, 2008 (AFP) – Microsoft said Sunday it was considering some kind of new deal with Yahoo that would not involve a new takeover bid, two weeks after withdrawing its offer to acquire the struggling Internet pioneer.“In light of developments since the withdrawal of the Microsoft proposal to acquire Yahoo Inc., Microsoft announced […]

BRUSSELS, May 19, 2008 (AFP) – The flow of European cash into Indian firms surged more than fourfold last year, far surpassing EU investments into Chinese companies, estimates from the bloc’s Eurostat data agency showed on Monday.Foreign direct investment from the 27-nation European Union into India jumped to 10.9 billion euros (17.0 billion dollars) last […]

TOKYO, May 19, 2008 (AFP) – An advisory panel called on Japan’s government Monday to help remove barriers to foreign investment amid calls overseas for the world’s second-largest economy to open up more.The panel of academics, business chiefs and other experts proposed Japan treat foreign and domestic investors equally and lower its corporate tax of […]

KIEV, May 18, 2008 (AFP) – The new market economies of the former Soviet block have shrugged off the global credit crunch but are facing slower economic growth because of rampant inflation, the EBRD said Sunday at its annual meet. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s 17th annual two-day conference takes place this year […]

NEW DELHI, May 18, 2008 (AFP) – India’s Reliance Entertainment said Sunday it had signed deals with the production houses of top Hollywood stars such as Brad Pitt and George Clooney to make films worth about a billion dollars.The media group has signed separate deals with the production firms of Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage, Jim […]

BERLIN, May 17, 2008 (AFP) – The destruction of flora and fauna is costing the world two trillion euros (3.1 trillion dollars) a year, or six percent of its overall gross national product, according to a report trailed by German news weekly Der Spiegel.The European Union and German environment ministry-led research, entitled “The Economics of […]

NEW DELHI, May 16, 2008 (AFP) – India’s inflation rate accelerated to a 44-month high of nearly eight percent on Friday, dealing a fresh blow to the government which fears a voter backlash.Annual inflation climbed more than two-tenths of a percentage point to 7.83 percent for the week ended May 3 from 7.61 percent the […]

PARIS, May 16, 2008 (AFP) – French wireless carrier Orange announced a deal Friday to bring Apple’s iPhone to more than a dozen countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.The deal was announced some 10 days after British mobile phone carrier Vodafone said it would distribute the handset to customers in 10 […]