Category: Other
Bad Justice
April 12, 2008 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan court has released a man who was held in custody for 55 years without charge, a report said on Saturday. Thantriye Emis Singho, 83, was arrested by police in 1953 for carrying a sword in a Colombo suburb. A court sent him to a state-run mental hospital […]
‘s two-wheeler boom
SINGAPORE, April 12, 2008 (AFP) – Record high oil prices, environmental concerns, affluent lifestyles as well as the need to dodge city traffic are driving a boom in Asia’s motorcycle and bicycle market, industry figures say.The rediscovery of cycling as a way to keep fit is also helping to boost demand for two-wheelers, those at […]
Inside Deals
April 11, 2008 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan supreme court judge has proposed amending regulations on stock market offences to cover markets regulators as well as all company shareholders. Supreme court judge Saleem Marsoof said a serious deficiency in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Act is that it does not provide against the use […]
Nude pic of French first lady Carla Bruni sold for US$91,000
NEW YORK, April 10, 2008 (AFP) – A photograph of a nude Carla Bruni, the ex-model now married to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, was sold Thursday to a Chinese collector for 91,000 dollars at Christie’s — more than 20 times its predicted price. The gelatin silver print, taken by photographer Michel Comte in 1993, depicts […]
Rate hikes expected as Indian inflation spikes to 7.4-pct
NEW DELHI, April 11, 2008 (AFP) – Indian inflation accelerated to 7.41 percent, according to official data released Friday, dealing a blow to the government and fanning expectations of monetary tightening. Annual inflation quickened to 7.41 percent for the week ended March 29, from seven percent the previous week, according to the Wholesale Price Index, […]
Boardroom Behaviour
April 10, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s top state legal advisor has told company directors not to be mere ‘rubber stamps’ but to act independently and in the best interests of their companies and stakeholders. Attorney-general C R de Silva said company directors today are expected to meet an increasing range of obligations amidst commercial […]
With US in crisis, global economy in peril: IMF
WASHINGTON, April 8, 2008 (AFP) – The global economic outlook is increasingly grim with the United States mired in a recession from a housing meltdown whose effects are still spreading, the IMF said Wednesday. Global expansion is set to slow to 3. 7 percent in 2008 amid an unfolding crisis that began in the United […]
Oil spike, aircraft cost bring down Hong Kong budget airline
HONG KONG, April 10, 2008 (AFP) – Soaring fuel costs and a decision to buy aircraft instead of renting them led to the demise of budget Hong Kong airline Oasis, the company’s founders said in an open letter published Thursday.Raymond and Priscilla Lee apologised to the thousands of stranded passengers, company employees and to investors […]
‘s economy speeds up in Q1: government
SINGAPORE, April 10, 2008 (AFP) – Singapore’s economy grew an annual 7.2 percent in the first quarter, faster than the 5.4 percent expansion recorded in the previous three months, the government said Thursday. But economists said the growth is likely to taper off in coming months amid a widely-expected US-led global slowdown. Last quarter’s performance […]
Prawn sandwich destroys Philippines fish nurseries: expert
MANILA, April 10, 2008 (AFP) – She helped turn many of the world’s prawn farmers into millionaires, but Jurgenne Primavera now worries that her life’s work might have indirectly accelerated the destruction of fish nurseries.The Filipina zoologist, whose research on breeding the black tiger prawn became a manual that revolutionised the aquaculture industry, pointed at […]
US mortgage crisis may cost 945 bln dlrs worldwide: IMF
WASHINGTON, April 8, 2008 (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday the worldwide losses stemming from the US subprime mortgage crisis could hit 945 billion dollars as the impact spreads in the global economy. The IMF, in a particularly stark report, said that falling US housing prices and rising delinquencies on the residential mortgage […]
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WASHINGTON, April 8, 2008 (AFP) – Federal Reserve staff predict the US economy will contract in the first half of 2008 amid worsening housing market and credit woes, minutes from a central bank meeting revealed Tuesday.Such a downturn would be defined as a recession by most economists.Moreover, some policymakers at the central bank see the […]