Category: World

SINGAPORE, April 23, 2008 (AFP) – International concern mounted as world oil prices edged closer to 120 dollars a barrel Wednesday and the world’s top producer called for calm. Analysts said a weakening US dollar, supply worries in Nigeria and the OPEC cartel’s reluctance to increase output have all contributed to the price surge. New […]

SYDNEY, April 23, 2008 (AFP) – Australia’s annual inflation rate soared to a six-year high of 4.2 percent, quarterly figures released Wednesday showed, outstripping expectations and increasing the chances of an interest rate rise. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the consumer price index rose 1.3 percent in the three months to March, taking the […]

April 23, 2008 (AFP) – At least 67 people, including 15 soldiers, were killed and hundreds wounded when Sri Lankan security forces launched an offensive against Tiger rebels on Wednesday, the defence ministry said.A ministry spokesman said 74 soldiers were also seriously wounded when they tried to advance into territory held by the Liberation Tigers […]

NEW DELHI, April 23, 2008 (AFP) – India has forecast a record grain harvest but experts warned Wednesday farm productivity would have to rise much faster to feed the nation of 1.1 billion people and avert a food security crisis. Food grain production in the crop year ended March 31, 2008 would total a record […]

BASEL, Switzerland, April 23, 2008 (AFP) – Swiss banking giant UBS got approval for a fresh infusion of 14.8 billion dollars and a new chairman Wednesday but shareholders at an annual general meeting made plain their anger over huge subprime losses. Shareholders voted in favour of appointing Swiss lawyer Peter Kurer as chairman, replacing Marcel […]

WASHINGTON, April 21, 2008 (AFP) – Campaigners against piracy in India’s money-spinning entertainment industry, which loses four billion dollars a year to counterfeiters, have taken their battle to the US Congress.“We are losing 90 percent of our home video market in the United States,” veteran Indian filmmaker Bobby Bedi told AFP at a Capitol Hill […]

SYDNEY, April 22, 2008 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is trying to steal last month’s election and the so-called recount of votes is a sham, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Tuesday.MDC secretary general Tendai Biti has charged that 10 MDC supporters have been killed and thousands forced to flee their homes following attacks […]

SINGAPORE, April 22, 2008 (AFP) – The era of cheap food is over, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) official said Tuesday. Rajat Nag, the ADB’s managing director general, said a variety of factors have contributed to soaring food prices which, even if they ease, will not return to the lower levels which the world became […]

LONDON, April 22, 2008 (AFP) – The price of New York crude oil surged past 118 dollars per barrel for the first time on Tuesday, lifted by unrest in key producer Nigeria and the weak dollar, traders said.New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, struck a new peak at […]

HONG KONG, April 22, 2008 (AFP) – Hong Kong’s underlying inflation rate increased to 5.3 percent year-on-year in March, as food costs continued to rocket in the face of global pressure, official figures showed Tuesday. The underlying rate increased from a 5.1 percent figure in February, according to figures released by the Census and Statistics […]

ZURICH, April 21, 2008 (AFP) – Switzerland’s biggest bank UBS said Monday that weak risk control and a pay structure that invited risky deals were among key factors leading to its massive subprime-related losses.A 50-page report to shareholders, a summary of a document the bank submitted earlier to the Federal Banking Commission, set out the […]

LONDON, April 21, 2008 (AFP) – The Bank of England announced a 50-billion-pound plan on Monday to free up Britain’s home loan market in one of the biggest moves by a major central bank to combat the global credit crunch.The British central bank said it would allow high street banks to swap mortgage-backed securities for […]