Category: Other
Coal prices surge to catch up with oil
SYDNEY, Jan 30, 2008 (AFP) – Floods in Australia, freezing weather in China and transport bottlenecks in Indonesia have helped stoke a sharp rise in the price of coal, putting pressure on Asian consumer industries. Soaring demand from China and India as their economies steam ahead has also combined to push the cost of the […]
Death Row
Jan 29, 2008 (LBO) — Two more Sri Lankan have been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia, media reports said, while Amnesty International said they were convicted without legal representation on ‘confessions’ obtained under duress.Haleema Cadre from Kalmunai, a mother with an 8-year old son, her husband who is an Indian national and K M […]
French rogue trader freed after escaping fraud charges
PARIS, Jan 28, 2008 (AFP) – French judges placed rogue trader Jerome Kerviel under formal investigation on Monday but stopped short of charging him with fraud and decided he could walk free from police custody.Shares in Societe Generale, where Kerviel is alleged to have lost more than seven billion dollars, took a battering as allegations […]
Subprime crisis sends chill through Arctic Circle
OSLO, Jan 29, 2008 (AFP) – Perhaps the most unlikely victims of the US subprime crisis are eight small Norwegian towns currently licking their wounds after seeing tens of millions of dollars in risky investments go up in smoke.A soaring number of defaults on US subprime mortgages, or loans made to people with poor credit […]
Dollar drops against yen with all eyes on Fed
TOKYO, Jan 29, 2008 (AFP) – The dollar slipped against the yen in Asian trade on Tuesday as traders bet on another US interest rate cut this week to try to ward off a US recession, dealers said.The dollar slipped to 106.71 yen in Tokyo midday trade from 106.87 in New York late Monday. But […]
Sri Lanka needs more agricultural investment to boost productivity, cut poverty: World Bank
Jan 29, 2008 (LBO) – The World Bank says Sri Lanka’s agriculture needs more investment to diversify into high value products and boost productivity in order to reduce rural poverty. “Governments around the world and donors such as the World Bank have been under-investing in agriculture,” says Derek Byerlee, a rural strategy adviser to the […]
Privacy Regime
Jan 28, 2008 (LBO) – Developing countries should first enlighten state officials and citizens on privacy to implement a privacy regime that helps develop e-commerce and international trade, experts say. A privacy regime is a mechanism that is in place to protect personal information which is stored or transferred into and out of a country. […]
SG says rogue trader had fictitious counterparties; lawyers protest innocence
PARIS, Jan 27, 2008 (AFP) – French investigators on Sunday extended the detention of accused rogue trader Jerome Kerviel over a seven-billion-dollar fraud as Societe Generale revealed he had been gambling with more than 73 billion dollars in deals when caught.“What happened at Societe Generale is certainly not a disaster that resulted from our strategy. […]
Plane hits speeding calf
JAKARTA, Jan 28, 2008 (AFP) – An airliner with 141 passengers hit a calf while landing at an airport in Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua, the state Antara news agency reported Monday.The Merpati Nusantara Airlines Boeing 737 was landing at Merauke airport in southwest Papua when the calf ran across the runway, the agency said. […]
‘s northern military base; troops retaliate: military
Jan 28, 2008 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels Monday shelled Sri Lanka’s main military base in the island’s north, defence officials said.There were no immediate reports of casualties. More than a dozen shells hit the Palaly military complex in the Jaffna peninsula on the northern edge of the Indian Ocean Island, officials said, adding that […]
Societe Generale chairman fighting for future after rogue trade scandal
PARIS, Jan 27, 2008 (AFP) – A week from hell when he had to admit that 7.1 billion dollars had gone missing and another 3.5 billion was lost on the US subprime market, has tested even the mettle of crisis veteran Societe Generale chief Daniel Bouton. Societe Generale’s market value has lost more than 40 […]
Obama sweeps Clinton in South Carolina with black vote
COLUMBIA, South Carolina, Jan 26, 2008 (AFP) – Senator Barack Obama routed Hillary Clinton in South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary on Saturday, riding massive African-American support to a critical win in his bid to become the first black US president. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Obama led the former first lady 55 to 27 […]