Category: World

MUMBAI, April 29, 2008 (AFP) – India’s central bank on Tuesday held key interest rates steady but hiked the percentage of cash banks must hold in reserve to 8.25 percent to curb inflation riding at over three-year highs. It was the second time the Reserve Bank of India had announced an increase in the cash […]

FRANKFURT, April 29, 2008 (AFP) – German insurer Allianz said Tuesday that its first quarter net profit will slump to a third of what it was in the year-earlier period due the ongoing financial crisis and weak stock markets. The Munich-based group said it was writing off 900 million euros (1.4 billion dollars) worth of […]

CEBU, Philippines, April 29, 2008 (AFP) – President Gloria Arroyo on Tuesday urged fellow Filipinos to boil rice with yams or to eat cheaper cereals to avoid going hungry as rice prices soared to record levels.“This is a once-a-millennium global crisis. We have an action plan,” Arroyo said, noting that residents of the central island […]

FRANKFURT, April 29, 2008 (AFP) – An internal probe at German industrial group Siemens has found that almost all its sectors of activity were subject to active corruption, a company statement said Tuesday. The international law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton “has found evidence in each of the examined groups and in various countries indicating […]

SINGAPORE, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – World oil prices hit an intraday record near 120 dollars a barrel on Monday after the shutdown of a major North Sea pipeline added to supply worries, analysts said.New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, touched 119.93 dollars a barrel in electronic deals […]

HO CHI MINH CITY, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – Vietnam’s government Monday said the country has sufficient rice stocks and threatened to punish speculators who hoard rice for profit after price surges triggered a run on the staple grain.Many supermarkets and street stalls quickly ran out of rice in Ho Chi Minh City at the […]

DJIBOUTI, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – Moses once parted the Red Sea … now Osama bin Laden’s half-brother is planning to build a bridge over it. Building on engineering feats such as the Channel Tunnel between England and France, the Panama Canal linking the Atlantic to the Pacific and the Suez Canal joining the Mediterranean […]

NEW DELHI, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – Global aviation giants on Monday submitted bids to sell 126 warplanes to India — the world’s richest fighter aircraft deal worth 12 billion dollars, the companies said.Six aeronautical companies from Russia, the United States and Europe offered their proposals to the Indian defence ministry well before an official […]

HANOI, April 27, 2008 (AFP) – Asia’s rainforests are being rapidly destroyed, a trend accelerated by surging timber demand in booming China and India, and record food, energy and commodity prices, forest experts warn.The loss of these biodiversity hot spots, much of it driven by the illegal timber trade and the growth of oil palm, […]

MUMBAI, April 27, 2008 (AFP) – India’s largest private-sector lender ICICI Bank on Saturday beat forecasts with a nearly 40 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit.Net profit for the three months ending March 31 rose 39.3 percent to 11.5 billion rupees (286 million dollars) from 8.25 billion rupees a year earlier, the New York stock […]

PAYERNE, Switzerland, April 26, 2008 (AFP) – A 36-year-old Swiss amateur parachutist made a successful 650-metre (2,130-foot) drop Saturday using a replica of a parachute designed more than 500 years ago by Leonardo da Vinci.“I came down… smack in the middle of the tarmac at Payerne military airport,” said Olivier Vietti-Teppa. “A perfect jump.” Vietti-Teppa […]

LONDON, April 27, 2008 (AFP) – Indian-born steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal remains the wealthiest person in Britain, The Sunday Times newspaper’s 2008 annual Rich List said. His 27.7 billion pounds (54.9 billion dollars, 35.1 billion euros), up 8.5 billion pounds on last year, keeps him topping the pile for the fourth year running. And the […]