Category: World

PROVIDENCE, Guyana, March 22, 2008 (AFP) – Three wickets in the final period, including the scalp of Malinda Warnapura for a maiden Test hundred of 120, wobbled Sri Lanka after their batsmen revelled in the opening Test against West Indies on Saturday. Left-hander Warnapura, opening the batting, maximised ideal conditions to give Sri Lanka a […]

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2008 (AFP) – Bear Stearns’ go-getting investment bankers used to chase million-dollar deals, but staff at the now hard up Wall Street bank have resorted to auctioning off Bear Stearns-branded memorabilia to raise funds.Bear Stearns workers have put a range of mementos up for sale online at eBay in recent days following […]

March 22, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Saturday buried visionary British sci-fi writer Arthur C.Clarke amid tears and tributes from family and fans as the government ordered a minute’s silence across the island.The 90-year-old author, who died at the age of 90 on Wednesday following a brief illness, was buried in a plot owned […]

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2008 (AFP) – The US Treasury said Thursday it had reached a series of agreements with two powerful sovereign wealth funds based in Abu Dhabi and Singapore covering investments in US markets. The agreements were hammered out in a meeting at the US Treasury hosted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and come […]

SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2008 (AFP) – US telecom giants Verizon Wireless and AT&T on Thursday took home the big prizes in a record-setting US wireless spectrum auction while Google got the open access it eagerly craves. The 700 MHz band currently carries standard television broadcasts, and will be freed up when stations switch to […]

TOKYO, March 21, 2008 (AFP) – In an unprecedented experiment, a Japanese astronaut has thrown a boomerang in space and confirmed it flies back much like on Earth. Astronaut Takao Doi “threw a boomerang and saw it come back” during his free time on March 18 at the International Space Station, a spokeswoman at the […]

SEOUL, March 21, 2008 (AFP) – South Korean police said Friday they had arrested a woman accused of telling her six-year-old daughter to steal some 140,000 dollars from a bank. The girl took cash and cheques on Thursday from a small safe under the desk in the VIP room of a bank in the southern […]

LOS BANOS, Philippines, March 21, 2008 (AFP) – As the price of rice hovers near record levels, many poor countries face the spectre of riots by hungry people, according to one of the world’s leading rice experts.Key producers India and Vietnam have both curtailed exports, sending some of the world’s largest rice importers including the […]

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2008 (AFP) – Men and women have different tastes in food, with men favoring meat and poultry, and women fruits and vegetables, researchers said in what was touted as the most extensive study to date of gender differences in eating habits. More than 14,000 adult men and women were surveyed from May […]

LONDON, March 19, 2008 (AFP) – Crude oil and gold prices plunged from recent record heights on Wednesday, as markets were rattled by concerns that ongoing global economic turmoil would dent demand for commodities, analysts said. New York’s main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, plummeted 4.22 dollars to 105.20 dollars per […]

SINGAPORE, March 20, 2008 (AFP) – World oil prices continued to fall in Asian trade Thursday, with more volatility expected as investors continue to assess the US economy, dealers said. In early morning trade, New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for May fell 60 cents to 101.94 dollars per barrel from its close of […]

March 20, 2008 (AFP) – British sci-fi guru Arthur C. Clarke will be buried at a private funeral in Sri Lanka’s capital on Saturday, a close aide to the late writer said.The author had been largely confined to a wheelchair as a result of post-polio syndrome for several decades. Clarke, who captured the world’s imagination […]