Category: Other

WASHINGTON, Dec 6, 2007 (AFP) – A vast mortgage relief package brokered by the Bush administration is likely to ease the pain of the US housing slump but with an uncertain cost for markets and the financial system, analysts say.“That’s a loss for mortgage holders but it’s a smaller loss than would come from foreclosure,” […]

CARACAS, Dec 5, 2007 (AFP) – President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday his push to have Venezuela accept sweeping constitutional reforms has “not finished” despite being rejected in a weekend referendum. “The discussion on the transformation of the state is not finished,” he told state VTV television. “While the opposition continues to celebrate a Pyrrhic victory, […]

SINGAPORE, Dec 6, 2007 (AFP) – Oil prices fell in Asia trade Thursday after OPEC rebuffed pressure and left output unchanged, dealers said. The market’s muted reaction to a sharper-than-expected drawdown in US crude stocks also reflected growing concerns that high prices may eventually take their toll on consumers, they said. In early morning trade, […]

BERLIN, Dec 6, 2007 (AFP) – One in every four people has been asked to pay a bribe to the police, and political parties and parliaments are the most tainted by corruption, a Transparency International study released on Thursday shows. The poor are targeted for bribes in both developed and developing countries, according to the […]

PARIS, Dec 6, 2007 (AFP) – A strong euro and tougher credit conditions will weigh on the eurozone economy next year, the OECD predicted on Thursday, cutting its 2008 growth forecast to 1.9 percent from 2.3 percent previously. It also warned that a stronger-than-expected slowdown in the United States, Europe’s biggest trade partner, would also […]

SYDNEY, Dec 5, 2007 (AFP) – Australia’s central bank left interest rates on hold at an 11-year high of 6.75 percent Wednesday, while warning that it remained concerned about inflationary pressures. The decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia had been widely anticipated by economists, who believed the bank was likely to take the view […]

LOS ANGELES, Dec 4, 2007 (AFP) – Teenage actors and singers such as 15-year-old “Hannah Montana” starlet Miley Cyrus are among the most highly paid young stars on the planet with annual income worth millions of dollars, Forbes magazine revealed Tuesday. Cyrus, daughter of the country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, recently shot to stardom in […]

WASHINGTON, Dec 3, 2007 (AFP) – Rich nations should hire women from developing economies in a bid to break a WTO deadlock on cross-border movement of professional service providers, a World Bank study says.Industrialized nations are reluctant to accept migrants from developing economies such as nurses and IT workers as part of proposals under the […]

BRUSSELS, Dec 3, 2007 (AFP) – Growth in the 13 nations sharing the euro is expected to be weaker than expected only several months ago, according to the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund on Monday.The head of the IMF’s European department, Michael Deppler, painted a darker outlook for the eurozone in a presentation […]

CANBERRA, Dec 3, 2007 (AFP) – Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd was sworn in as Australia’s 26th prime minister on Monday after a landslide election win nine days ago against long-serving conservative leader John Howard. Rudd took the oath of office before Governor-General Michael Jeffery at Government House in Canberra, launching a new era in […]

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 2, 2007 (AFP) – US researchers warn that bullies are taking their hurtful ways from real-world schoolyards to the “cyber” world by targeting teens with nasty e-mail, text messaging, and online chat. The number of children ages 10 to 17 that say they were abused by “cyber bullies” climbed 50 percent, from […]

PARIS, Dec 1, 2007 (AFP) – Activists and global leaders used World AIDS Day Saturday to warn against complacency in fighting the disease and called on governments to fill a multi-billion-dollar funding gap.In Haiti, the country with the greatest number of HIV infected people in the Americas (190,000) after Brazil, despite a relatively small population, […]