Thursday May 08, 2008
EUROPE 
Medvedev takes over from Putin as Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in as Russian President yesterday and nominated his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, as prime minister, ushering in an unprecedented period of dual rule.Mr. Medvedev, a 42-year-old former corporate lawyer and long-time Putin ally, stressed freedom and the rule of law in his first remarks after taking the oath of office in a solemn, emotional ceremony in the Kremlin's glittering St. Andrew's Hall.
U.S. tax evasion probe latest blow for UBS
UBS AG, reeling from record losses, says the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the Swiss bank helped clients evade American taxes.One senior bank employee was ''briefly detained'' by U.S. authorities as a ''material witness,'' the firm said in an e-mailed statement. The Financial Times reported that the employee was Martin Liechti, the Zurich-based head of UBS's international wealth management business for the Americas.
EasyJet loss triples on rising fuel costs
Budget airline easyJet PLC said yesterday that its losses in the first half more than tripled as rising fuel costs outweighed a 24-per-cent jump in revenue. The company reported a loss of & 43.3-million ($85.3-million) in the six months ended March 31, compared with a loss of & 12.7-million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose to & 892.2-million, including a 17-per-cent gain in passenger revenue to & 751-million. EZJ (London) rose 91/4 pence to & 3.063/4 ($6.05).
AMERICAS
Judge thwarts TD's U.S. branding effort
A Massachusetts judge yesterday extended a temporary ban on the use of the brand name ''TD Commerce bank'' by Toronto-Dominion Bank in a handful of Boston-area counties, after a local bank with a similar name went to court for an injunction to stop the brand from being used in its backyard.
UBS RETURNS FUNDS AMID INVESTIGATION
UBS AG agreed to return more than $35-million (U.S.) it invested in auction-rate securities for 20 towns and public agencies in Massachusetts amid a state probe of the sale of the debt.
Help for homeowners?
The U.S. House of Representatives opened debate yesterday on a bill that would create a $300-billion (U.S.) fund to save homeowners from foreclosure, but President George W. Bush threatened to veto the legislation, which he said would ''reward speculators and lenders.''
Paulson says the worst of the credit crisis is over
The worst of America's credit crisis may have passed, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said yesterday, though he acknowledged rising gas prices will blunt the effect of 130 million economic stimulus cheques. He ruled out a second stimulus package for now. Mr. Paulson said the turmoil that has gripped Wall Street and that took a turn for the worse again in March has eased somewhat. ''There's progress,'' he said. ''I think we're closer to the end of this'' than to the beginning. A prolonged housing slump, a severe credit crisis and soaring energy costs have pushed the economy to the edge of a recession. With surging oil costs and gasoline prices, Mr. Paulson acknowledged that pain at the pump would diminish the impact of the $168-billion (U.S.) stimulus package payments meant to give the economy a jump-start.
Brazil, India top list of sustainable lifestyles
Inhabitants of Brazil and India have the world's most environmentally sustainable lifestyle and U.S. residents have the least, a new study tracking global attitudes toward consumption and the environment says. Canada also scored very low.
ASIA-PACIFIC
Desperate survivors fight for food
Fighting erupted among starving survivors of the Myanmar cyclone yesterday as the military junta continued to prevent relief workers from entering the country after a disaster that killed as many as 100,000 people.
Myanmar's worsening crisis
1. FOODThe low-lying areas of the Irrawaddy delta provided Myanmar with the majority of its rice supply. But the cyclone wiped out the region's entire crop, and that damage will have profound implications for the country's food supply in the immediate and distant future.
Disasters not as random as they appear
A natural disaster is a numbers game.Cataclysms such as hurricane Katrina, the 2004 tsunamis or the cyclone that ravaged Myanmar on Saturday may appear to have exploded spontaneously on unsuspecting populations, but there's nothing random about these events, scientists say. These disasters, like the unfolding tragedy in Myanmar, follow a long-established pattern, one that offers lessons on how to minimize the human toll.
Devastating cyclone takes its name from a flower
Cyclone Nargis, the tropical cyclone that tore into Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta killing at least 22,000 people and leaving a million people homeless, takes its name from the word for daffodil in Urdu.
Survivors tell of journeys from horror to misery
Some survivors arrived half-naked, others wore clothes they scavenged from the dead.Myanmar's rice-trading town of Labutta, the only spit of high ground in a vast watery landscape, has become a beacon of hope for tens of thousands who lived through the cyclone's fury, most losing homes and family members.
Nippon Oil, PetroChina team for refining venture
Nippon Oil Corp., Japan's largest refiner, said it agreed to form a refining venture with PetroChina Co., expanding their alliance to capture growing Asian demand. The companies will consider jointly operating Nippon Oil's 115,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Osaka as part of the venture, Nippon Oil president Shinji Nishio told reporters yesterday. The venture, in which the Japanese company will hold a 51-per-cent stake, will probably start by April, 2009. The deal comes during a visit to Japan by Chinese President Hu Jintao. Under an agreement signed yesterday, Nippon Oil will operate the Osaka plant while PetroChina will handle the purchase of crude oil and sales of refined products. 5001 (Tokyo) rose yen56 to yen774 ($7.46). 857 (Hong Kong) fell 66 Hong Kong cents to $11.46 Hong Kong.
Bharti Airtel signs on to Britain-India cable project
Bharti Airtel, India's top mobile-phone operator, said yesterday it had joined a consortium to build a $700-million (U.S.) submarine cable system. Bharti signed a construction and maintenance agreement in London for the Europe India Gateway (EIG), the first high-bandwidth, optical-fibre cable system from India to Britain, the company said. Fifteen other firms are taking part in the 15,000-kilometre project linking 13 countries across three continents that will start carrying commercial traffic by the second quarter of 2010, it said in a statement. Bharti will operate the Mumbai landing station for the cable system that will support Internet, e-commerce, data and voice transmission. Bharti (Mumbai) fell 30.2 rupees to 816.15 rupees ($19.97).
Beijing Olympic torch reaches peak of Everest
The Olympic torch was at the top of Mount Everest today, the crowning moment of the Beijing Games torch relay which had been dogged by anti-Chinese protests on its world tour.
AFRICA-MIDEAST
Abdelrazik sues Ottawa to bring him home
Abousfian Abdelrazik, once labelled an al-Qaeda operative by Canada but now given ''temporary safe haven'' in the Khartoum embassy, filed a court action yesterday in Ottawa seeking to force the government to fly him home from Sudan.
Opposition supporters slain by Mugabe militia
Eleven supporters of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change were beaten to death in the early hours of Tuesday morning by members of a militia in the command of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, and at least 20 more people are in hospital after the predawn attack, the worst political violence in Zimbabwe's recent history.
