RIGA - Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis opened up a potential Pandora’s
box last week when he said that money laundering in Latvia had become
so rampant that the United States could impose sanctions against 12
local banks if the situation were not cleared up.
7:33:45 AM comment []
Investors should boost their holdings of global semiconductor shares,
including Texas Instruments Inc, because the stocks are cheap and
earnings in the industry will improve, Credit Suisse First Boston said.
7:26:29 AM comment []
HONG
KONG - A former executive at Hong Kong's Dragonair plans to launch a
new budget airline that will fly long-haul routes rather than the short
hops preferred by other discount carriers, local media reported on
Thursday.
7:22:06 AM comment []
KUALA
LUMPUR - Malaysia's total trade jumped 22.84 per cent in 2004 to hit a
record high of RM880.37 billion (US$231.67 billion), official figures
showed on Thursday.
7:17:43 AM comment []
WASHINGTON
- The Federal Reserve pushed short-term interest rates higher on
Wednesday, part of a campaign begun last June and expected to continue
well into this year to keep inflation and the economy on an even keel.
7:14:24 AM comment []
Leading industry lobbies described the move
as underlying the government's resolve to carry forward the economic
reforms process.
The move "would provide a huge fillip to the
telecom sector and the economy as a whole", said Confederation of
Indian Industry (CII) president Sunil Kant Munjal.
7:11:46 AM comment []
NEW DELHI: Telecom firms welcomed the
government's decision to raise the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
limit in telecom to 74 per cent from 49 per cent.
Despite the
tough norms meant to ensure management control stays with Indian
promoters and directors, telecom companies said they expect growth and
consolidation in the field.
7:08:11 AM comment []
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) -- Russia, the world's largest oil supplier after
Saudi Arabia, raised oil output in the first month of the year by 4.8
percent compared with the same period in 2004, as high prices
encouraged companies to increase output.
7:05:09 AM comment []
NUREMBERG, Germany -- German unemployment rose in January to the
highest recorded level since 1933 as government labor-market reforms
and seasonal effects added more than half a million people to jobless
rosters.
7:03:40 AM comment []
The State Statistics Service announced Wednesday that the economy
expanded by 7.1 percent last year, well above the 6.5 percent to 6.9
percent forecast by market watchers and the government itself.
7:00:37 AM comment []
The growing number of bank account thefts involving stolen or forged
bank cards is forcing financial institutions to adopt costly biometric
technology to verify that only bona fide customers are using automated
teller machines.
6:57:43 AM comment []
"Senate Democrats said yesterday that they have more than enough votes
to block President Bush's bid to allow private accounts in Social
Security, increasing pressure on the president to begin outlining a
plan tonight that might offer enough compromises or incentives to win
over at least a handful of Democrats," the Washington Post reports.
6:54:30 AM comment []
Dubai
Holding has announced that it has acquired a $1 billion stake in
DaimlerChrysler, making it the third largest shareholder in the
German-US auto giant.
6:39:17 AM comment []
