Category: World

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 […]

NAIROBI, May 17, 2008 (AFP) – Africa’s main trading bloc has agreed to finalise the details of a customs union by September to pave the way for its launch by the year’s end, Kenyan Trade Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said. Ministers of the 19-member Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) ended a two-day meeting […]

JUYUAN, China, May 17, 2008 (AFP) – Local residents have a simple answer for why the four-storey Juyuan Middle School collapsed during the China quake — killing hundreds of children — while nearby buildings remained standing.Greed. “Look at the building materials they used,” said one resident in this rural community in southwest China.“The cement wasn’t […]

SINGAPORE, May 16, 2008 (AFP) – T. Junardhan is helping to install the plumbing at a luxury shopping and residential tower rising in Singapore’s prime Orchard Road tourist belt. He can also balance your books if the need arises. Junardhan, an Indian with a degree in accountancy, is one of almost 150,000 foreigners labouring in […]

TOKYO, May 16, 2008 (AFP) – Japan’s economy grew at a faster than expected 3.3 percent annualised pace in the first quarter of 2008 despite a global credit crunch and US economic slowdown, official figures showed Friday.The world’s second-largest economy remained in sound health as robust exports to China and other emerging markets offset weaker […]

HONG KONG, May 16, 2008 (AFP) – Hong Kong’s leading shareholder activist has quit the board of the city’s stock exchange, accusing it of being under the influence of politicians and compromising its listing standards.David Webb, who has been a constant critic of government interference on the exchange operator, Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing, resigned […]

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.India’s industrial production rose at the slowest pace for six years in March as tighter credit to stem rising inflation hit manufacturing, according […]

LIMA, May 15, 2008 (AFP) – EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on Thursday urged a quick draft agreement on the direction of global trade talks underway in Geneva before US elections in November closed “the window of opportunity.” Negotiating papers in the so-called Doha Round were to be published next week and Europe and developing […]

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2008 (AFP) – The US House of Representatives Wednesday passed a mammoth 290 billion dollar farm bill with a veto-proof majority, which includes subsidies for farmers and help with food bills for the needy.The 100-seat Senate was likely to pick up the bill as early as Wednesday night, where sponsors also hoped […]

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2008 (AFP) – The United States should allow Japan to sell its 1.5 million tons of imported US rice or give it to the World Food Program to help cool runaway rice prices, a nongovernmental organization said Wednesday. “An agreement by Washington and Tokyo for Japan to release its 1.5 million tons […]

FRANKFURT, May 15, 2008 (AFP) – Inflation in Germany fell to 2.4 percent in April from 3.1 percent in March, but remains above the European Central Bank’s target of just below two percent, data confirmed Thursday. Final figures for the annual inflation rate released by the statistics office confirmed a preliminary estimate based on a […]

JAIPUR, India, May 14, 2008 (AFP) – Police sifted for clues Wednesday after seven near-simultaneous bomb blasts tore through crowded markets in the Indian tourist city of Jaipur, killing at least 80 people.Police have detained one suspect over the attacks, which also targeted a packed Hindu temple, as schools and government offices shutdown Wednesday in […]