Category: World

MANILA, May 9, 2008 (AFP) – Asia’s response to tightening global grain supplies has aggravated food price inflation and uncertainty, according to an Asian Development Bank report released here Friday.Export bans and price floors imposed by grain exporters including China, Pakistan, Vietnam and India “have increased price volatility and uncertainty in the international rice markets,” […]

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2008 (AFP) – Inhabitants of Brazil and India have the world’s most environmentally-sustainable lifestyle and Americans have the least, according to a new study tracking global attitudes towards consumption and the environment. The survey by the National Geographic Society establishes a “Greendex” — an index measuring the economic impact of consumer lifestyle […]

KATHMANDU, May 8, 2008 (AFP) – Scores of climbers waiting on the southern Nepalese approach to Mount Everest will be allowed to proceed after the Chinese Olympic torch team made it to the roof of the world, officials said Thursday. “Mountaineers will be allowed to move towards the summit from Friday,” said Prem Rai, Nepal’s […]

MUMBAI, May 7, 2008 (AFP) – India offers one of most rewarding opportunities for growth in spite of recessionary conditions in the United States, wealth management group Merrill Lynch chief executive John Thain said Wednesday.“I do not believe in the ‘decoupling’ theory but India, led by strong local demand, will be relatively less affected by […]

BANGKOK, May 8, 2008 (AFP) – Thailand said Thursday it would provide 500,000 tonnes of rice to Malaysia in an emergency purchase as the latter’s national stockpile had enough supplies to last only 15 days.Government spokesman Wichainchot Sukchotrat said Malaysian agriculture minister Mustafa Mohamed met with Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Thursday to discuss […]

BANGALORE, India, May 7, 2008 (AFP) – Bharti Airtel, India’s top mobile-phone operator, said Wednesday it had joined a consortium to build a 700-million-dollar submarine cable system. Bharti signed a construction and maintenance agreement in London for the Europe India Gateway (EIG), the first high-bandwidth, optical-fibre cable system from India to Britain, the company said. […]

ATHENS, May 7, 2008 (AFP) – The European Central Bank is widely expected to leave its key interest rate unchanged again Thursday, focusing as it is mandated to do on inflation rather than the risk to growth, analysts say.The ECB governing council meets here at a twice-annual event organised in a eurozone capital, hosted this […]

May 7, 2008 ( LBO) – The Indian Ocean Island of Maldives is in the final stages of wrapping up its new constitution, which will pave the way for the nation’s first multi-party elections this year, officials said Tuesday.Political parties have only been legal on the 1,192 coral islands since 2005 when President Maumoon Abdul […]

DUBAI, May 7, 2008 (AFP) – The United Arab Emirates, whose booming economy functions thanks to millions of foreign workers, has been urged to put a six-year cap on their residency, a local newspaper reported on Wednesday.The internal affairs and defence committee of the consultative Federal National Council (FNC), said the workers should leave the […]

LONDON, May 6, 2008 (AFP) – Yahoo’s Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang defended his handling of failed takeover negotiations with Microsoft and said he remains open to an offer from the US software giant, in an interview published Tuesday in the Financial Times. Yang told the paper he was willing to negotiate but Microsoft pulled […]

YANGON, May 6, 2008 (AFP) – Myanmar’s military rulers were under fire Tuesday after revealing more than 10,000 people died in the cyclone that battered the secretive and impoverished nation, with thousands more missing. As relief agencies scrambled to get food, clean water and supplies into a country that normally scorns foreign aid, US First […]