Category: Other

WASHINGTON, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Tuesday unveiled a new private sector-led program backed by six leading home lenders to help homeowners facing foreclosure in a deepening real-estate slump to keep their homes.The plan would allow borrowers at immediate risk of losing their homes an opportunity to pause the […]

TOKYO, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – The dollar was steady against the yen in Asian trade Tuesday after world finance chiefs refrained from taking any concrete measures to stabilise markets at a weekend meeting, dealers said.They said the Tokyo market, which was closed on Monday for a national holiday, was still digesting the outcome of […]

SYDNEY, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – Drought cut 10 percent off the value of Australia’s agricultural production in 2006-07, official figures showed Tuesday.Poor crop production fuelled the downturn to a total output of 34.2 billion dollars (30.8 billion US), the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. Cotton dipped 46 percent to 514 million dollars, while rice […]

SINGAPORE, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – A consortium launched in Singapore on Tuesday aims to choke militants’ access to funds in Southeast Asia which one analyst said could reach three million US dollars a month. The Consortium for Countering the Financing of Terrorism aims to strengthen cooperation between banks, government agencies and academia to cut […]

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – In many poor and emerging countries, the lack of banking infrastructure but widespread use of mobile phones has created a business opportunity that network operators are keen to exploit.On Monday, British operator Vodafone announced at the industry’s annual trade show in Barcelona that it would launch a money […]

Feb 12, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will confer a national honor on visiting Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom for fostering close relations with the island, the foreign ministry said.Gayoom is scheduled to arrive in the island today with a delegation of senior ministers and officials. “The Lanka Mithra Vibushana” will be conferred on Gayoom […]

CARACAS, Feb 10, 2008 (AFP) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday warned Venezuela could expropriate milk processing plants based here and owned by Italy’s Parmalat and Swiss-owned Nestle.Caracas blames exporting to other countries for the supply chain woes. Exporters blame price controls the government put in place five years ago. “It doesn’t make any […]

NEW DELHI, Feb 11, 2008 (AFP) – Police in northern Indian have held six alleged Islamic militants suspected of planning an attack on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), a report said Monday.India’s stock market is a potent symbol of the country’s booming economic growth.In 2007, India’s stock markets rose by a record 47.1 percent, the […]

HONG KONG, Feb 11, 2008 (AFP) – On the day before the Lunar New Year festival, almost every pork butcher in Hong Kong’s Wanchai market is frantically busy with queues of housewives and maids 10 deep. Family feasts to mark the new lunar cycle — this year the advent of the year of the rat […]

PARIS, Feb 9, 2008 (AFP) – World stockmarkets lost 5.2 trillion dollars (3.6 trillion euros) in January thanks to the fallout from the US subprime crisis and fears of a global economic slowdown, Standard & Poor’s said Saturday. But only Argentina and Taiwan slipped into negative territory for the 12-month period. “If investors thought the […]

PARIS, Feb 10, 2008 (AFP) – A new court battle will be held Monday over the detention of French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel while Societe Generale is to soon launch an eight billion dollar capital increase to cover the losses they blame on him.The decision by a Paris appeals court on Friday to back a […]