With just 30 days to go before the official opening of the New Delhi Commonwealth Games, organizers continue to struggle with basic preparations like safety certificates for structures and the wherewithal to fight a potential epidemic. A fourth missed deadline for construction work and a spurt in cases of dengue fever — a mosquito-borne virus — are the latest setbacks to threaten an event already plagued by allegations official of poor building practices and bogus building approvals.
China has ordered local leaders to cool a surge in politically sensitive food prices by raising vegetable production amid rising tensions in poor countries over surging food costs. Mayors were told to make sure local markets have a week's supply of vegetables, said a Cabinet announcement on Friday.
Most Asian stock markets climbed Friday as investors took heart from a slight improvement in U.S. economic indicators amid lingering worries over the pace of the global economic recovery. But gains were modest across the region as investors took a wait-and-see stance ahead of closely-watched U.S. employment figures due out Friday.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that while the fight against corruption must be led by Afghans, the U.S. is working on new ways to prevent millions of American dollars flowing into the nation from underwriting bribery and graft. Gates spoke to reporters in the Afghan capital with President Hamid Karzai, who complained about the tactics of two Western-backed anti-corruption units that recently arrested one of his top aides on suspicion of bribery, likening them to heavy-handed Soviet tactics.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai reassured nervous customers at the troubled Kabul Bank on Thursday, saying every penny of their deposits would be guaranteed by the government. Larger than usual crowds gathered to withdraw funds from Afghanistan's largest bank Wednesday and Thursday after two top executives resigned amid allegations of mismanagement and unorthodox real estate loans.
Six recruiters were accused Thursday of luring 400 laborers from Thailand to the United States and forcing them to work, according to a federal indictment that the FBI called the largest human-trafficking case ever charged in U.S. hstory. The indictment alleges that the scheme was orchestrated by four employees of labor recruiting company Global Horizons Manpower Inc. and two Thailand-based recruiters.
Japan approved fresh economic sanctions against Iran on Friday after the United Nations asked Tokyo to tighten restrictions against Tehran over its controversial nuclear enrichment program, an official said. The measures approved by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan include an asset freeze on 88 entities, 15 banks and 24 individuals, trade ministry official Hideaki Fujisawa said.
It seemed like a perfect match. The Korean army would make a few bucks to help cover some of the costs of modernizing its military by selling 850,000 Korean War era rifles in the USA while American hunters and collectors would have access to a trove of vintage weapons. It was a win-win situation that the Obama administration approved last year.
Climate change may have delivered a solution to the risk faced by ships and crew passing through the waters of Gulf of Aden. A cargo ship bearing Hong Kong flag carrying 41,000 tons of iron ore will become part of maritime history as it sails from Norway to China through Russia's arctic passage instead of the pirate-infested Somalian waters.
India's quest for overseas coal continues, driven by the country's burgeoning economy and energy needs. South Africa shipped an estimated 35 percent of its thermal coal exports – 2.1 million metric tons – to India in July, almost twice June's 1.2 million tons.
Australia and New Zealand are locked in a stand-off with Fiji’s military leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, over his refusal to bring back democracy after four coups in two decades. Sanctions and other tough measures by Canberra and Wellington against Bainimarama's unelected government have been matched by a round of diplomatic expulsions by the South Pacific nation, which in turn is looking more and more to China for aid and support.
Еconomics
