Category: World

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 […]

BRUSSELS, April 21, 2008 (AFP) – Sportswear workers’ rights are being trampled asunder with unpaid overtime and gruelling conditions rife as the industry gears up for the Olympic Games in Beijing, according to a report. Researchers for the Play Fair 2008 campaign found that the conditions for sportswear equipment makers had hardly improved since the […]

SINGAPORE, April 21, 2008 (AFP) – The rice supply in Singapore — which imports virtually all its food — is not affected by export limits imposed by some producers to ease soaring prices, the government said Monday. Orders placed by the city-state’s rice importers are being met, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, […]

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 […]

SYDNEY, April 21, 2008 (AFP) – Australia’s territory has expanded by an area five times the size of France after the UN agreed to its jurisdiction over a massive amount of seabed, Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said Monday. The United Nations’ decision to extend the country’s borders south, west and east to include a further […]

TEHRAN, April 19, 2008 (AFP) – Three of Iran’s top clerics have criticised President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his handling of the economy, which is currently battling 18 percent inflation, the press reported Saturday. “We shift problems and faults onto others and in order to say we are innocent we blame others,” Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavikani, […]

ROME, April 20, 2008 (AFP) – Oil-consuming countries and international oil producers acknowledged Sunday they can no longer influence oil prices, as a global gathering of the energy elite got underway in Rome.“In the 1970s, international oil companies (IOCs) controlled nearly 75 percent of global oil reserves and 80 percent of oil production,” said Paolo […]

LONDON, April 18, 2008 (AFP) – Britain’s central bank is to pump an extra 50 billion pounds (63.4 billion euros, 99.9 billion dollars) into the banking system as early as the end of next week, BBC television said Friday. Without citing sources, the broadcaster said the Bank of England would issue one-year bonds over three […]

LONDON, April 18, 2008 (AFP) – Marks and Spencer said Friday it had entered into a joint venture with Reliance Retail of India in the hope of establishing the British food-to-clothes retailer as a “major retail brand” in South Asia. “Reliance Retail is the ideal partner for us to accelerate our expansion and create the […]