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Video of a toddler playing ping-pong wildly popular on-line

World NewsFeb 7, 2012

Video footage of an 18-month-old baby playing ping-pong is grabbing huge attention on website YouTube. YouTube The clip shows little Jamie Myska-Buddell knocking balls back to his father. Nearly million view
Philippine rescuers search for quake survivors

World NewsFeb 7, 2012

DUMAGUETE, Philippines (AFP) ― Rescuers in the Philippines dug through rubble with shovels and their bare hands Tuesday after a powerful earthquake triggered landslides, collapsed homes and killed dozens of people.The 6.8-magnitude quake hit a narrow strait between the heavily populated islands of Negros and Cebu around lunchtime Monday with more than 200 aftershocks, some nearly as strong, causing further panic throughout the day.Local military chiefs said 43 people were confirmed killed, but o
Australia holds interest rate at 4.25%

World BusinessFeb 7, 2012

Australia’s central bank unexpectedly kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged as it assesses the effect on the nation’s economy of its two previous cuts. Governor Glenn Stevens and his board left the overnight cash-rate target at 4.25 percent, the Reserve Bank of Australia said in a statement in Sydney Tuesday. The decision was predicted by three of 27 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The other 24 forecast a quarter percentage-point reduction. Stevens’s decision reflects confidence the
S&P threatens Fiat downgrade on weak auto market

World BusinessFeb 7, 2012

MILAN (AFP) ― Italy’s Fiat has been hit by weak markets in Europe and Brazil and reliance on its U.S. partner Chrysler, Standard & Poor’s ratings agency warned Monday as it threatened to downgrade the auto giant.Stock in Fiat and truck maker Fiat Industrial fell sharply over the announcement, with their shares dropping by more than two percent while the benchmark FTSE Mib index in Milan was down 0.3 percent.Fiat, which also owns luxury car makers Ferrari and Maserati, is Italy’s biggest private
Chinese nod for Citi cards may signal market opening

World BusinessFeb 7, 2012

China’s decision to allow Citigroup Inc. to issue credit cards in its own name may signal a step toward the government in Beijing opening its banking industry. New York-based Citigroup is the second foreign bank, and the first Western one, to be permitted to issue credit cards in China. The announcement Monday came as the World Trade Organization, acting on a U.S. complaint, probes the legality China’s refusal to let foreign companies issue their own bank cards denominated in its currency or to
Global smartphone shipments jump 55%, led by iPhone

World BusinessFeb 7, 2012

Global smartphone shipments surged 55 percent in the fourth quarter, as demand for Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4S countered declines by Research In Motion Ltd. and Nokia Oyj, International Data Corporation said. Shipments advanced to 158 million units from 102 million a year earlier, exceeding IDC’s forecast for a gain of 40 percent, the Framingham, Massachusetts-based research firm said Monday in a statement. Smartphone demand is increasing as prices for devices become more affordable, encouraging use
France air strike to worsen

World BusinessFeb 7, 2012

PARIS (AFP) ― A strike by French aviation workers was set to intensify on Tuesday with Air France saying it might fly only half of its long-haul flights.Flight disruptions were limited on Monday, the first day of a four-day action against restrictions on the right to strike, but there were a number of last-minute cancellations and delays.At Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, officials said airlines had preventively cancelled 10 percent of flights scheduled for Monday.An AFP reporter at
World’s youth fear jobless future

World BusinessFeb 7, 2012

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- The world’s young increasingly fear a future without jobs, according to a U.N. report released Monday which highlighted how the 15-30 age group risks becoming the biggest victims of austerity programs.The young doubt the education they receive will fully arm them for professional life, said the World Youth Report which questioned about 1,000 people for its study.“Young people questioned the quality of education they and their peers receive, whether or not it is relevant t
Era of falling food prices sees an end

World BusinessFeb 6, 2012

World food output must rise 70 percent by 2050, FAO saysThe era of falling food prices has come to an end with the world population set to add another 2 billion people, according to Cargill Inc., the U.S. farm commodities trader. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization has said global food output must rise 70 percent by 2050 to feed a world population expected to grow to 9 billion from 7 billion now and as increasingly wealthy consumers in developing economies eat more meat. Food p
China bans payment of EU carbon fees

World BusinessFeb 6, 2012

China cabinet decision comes a week before China-EU summitBEIJING (AFP) ― China said Monday it has banned its airlines from complying with an EU scheme to impose charges on carbon emissions opposed by more than two dozen countries including India, Russia and the United States.Beijing has said repeatedly that it opposes the new European Union plan, which was imposed with effect from Jan. 1, and which Chinese state media have warned would lead to a “trade war” in the sector.A statement on the webs
A risk averse young generation in Singapore

World NewsFeb 6, 2012

Even before he graduated from university, Lawrence Kim was already running a million-dollar business.The Singaporean had taken over his father’s marine inspection and service company in 2005 when he was just 23, and turned it into a million-dollar venture in just a few years.“My father had been doing a good job with it, but he didn’t really want to grow it,” said Kim, now 30 and the managing director of Ebenezer NDT Services.“I saw the potential in it and I couldn’t let my father’s efforts go to
In Philippines, there’s life after prostitution

World NewsFeb 6, 2012

As the night grows older, this part of the city becomes more alive. Women in low-cut, body-hugging clothes start appearing on the streets of Quezon City’s red light district in Metro Manila. Some make their move on potential customers.Also in the area are other women dressed more conservatively in jeans and shirt. They are not around to earn money for the night. Belonging to Bagong Kamalayan Collective Inc. (BKCI), they have come to talk to their scantily clad “sisters” about their rights and to
Demand for organic food grows

World NewsFeb 6, 2012

Increasing popularity shows Chinese consumers’ concerns about food safetyA farmer in Zouping county in East China’s Shandong province picks organic tomatoes. Dong Naide / For China DailyOrganic food products have become popular New Year gifts as the Chinese are paying more attention to health and food safety. On Friday in a Wumart supermarket in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, Han Yuying, a 53-year-old worker at a nursing home, was trying to select a box full of eggs that, according to the label, w
100 feared trapped in Pakistan building collapse: official

World NewsFeb 6, 2012

LAHORE, Pakistan (AFP) - Around 100 people, including women and children, were feared trapped Monday when a building collapsed in Pakistan's second largest city of Lahore, witnesses and an emergency official said.Witnesses said about 150 people normally worked at the factory in the building in the e
Missing woman’s husband kills himself and two sons

World NewsFeb 6, 2012

Josh Powell’s note was simple and short, a farewell to the world after two years of being scrutinized in the media, hammered by police and questioned by judges, prosecutors and social workers, living his life under a microscope since the day his wife vanished.Susan Powell (AP)Just minutes before aut