The newly-elected Indian government's pledges to the farm and social sectors, even as it slows down on the money-spinning sales of state firms, pose a real fiscal challenge, say analysts.
Spanish Economy Minister Pedro Solbes on Saturday predicted a fall in oil prices in the "next weeks or months" and voiced hope Spanish inflation at year-end would be "clearly below" the estimated 3.4 percent hit in May.
The fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria, eradicating hunger and promoting free trade are the most urgent problems on the planet, much more pressing than global warming, a panel of top economists has decided.
Charles Schwab Corp, the No 1 US discount brokerage, is preparing to eliminate an unspecified number of jobs in a bid to cut costs, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters on Friday.
Germany's economy will probably expand by 1.5 percent this year but the country's labour market would remain a concern, German BDI industry federation chief Michael Rogowski was quoted as saying on Saturday.
CSCE raw sugar futures ended Friday at a nine-week high on a steady fusillade of fund buying as rains in Brazil and perkier cash demand buoyed values heading into a holiday weekend, analysts said.
India, the world's biggest sugar consumer, could see output drop nearly 30 percent in the current crop year but is unlikely to raise imports as it has ample stocks, an industry official said on Friday.
China's launch of cotton futures next week will have only a limited impact on the world market because a ban on foreign investors could crimp liquidity there, analysts said Friday.
Shanghai copper futures ended higher on Friday as contracts rose across the board to catch up with the London Metal Exchange (LME), which broke through the key $2,750 level.
Tokyo rubber futures eased on Friday as a strong yen prompted technical selling ahead of the weekend, but wariness over a physical supply shortage continued to lend support, especially to prompt contracts.
Thailand opened its first commodity futures exchange on Friday with trading in rubber, allowing brokers and producers to hedge risk better and pave the way for trading in more commodities.
COMEX copper futures ended a holiday-shortened session higher on Friday, supported by US economic data and traders' jitters over a possible strike at a Canadian copper refinery over the weekend, dealers said.
Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures settled lower on Friday as speculative selling triggered technical sell stops in the nearby July contract, brokers said.
Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures closed mixed on Friday, with nearby contracts weak on worries about Chinese demand and deferred higher on spreading and a recovery from recent losses, traders said.
COMEX gold prices fell on Friday, succumbing to profit-taking and a firm dollar in a shortened pre-holiday session, despite a reluctance by traders to lighten safe-haven positions ahead of a three-day weekend.
The Australian wool market eased slightly this week with prices falling one percent on average values, following a fortnight of strong gains, analysts said on Friday.
Good rainfall across much of Australia's wheat, barley and canola belt sparked widespread planting of winter grains this week, and gave wheat growers a chance to chase a record 27 million tonne crop.
Oil prices endured another roller-coaster ride on world markets this week, reaching new record highs in New York before sliding amid nervousness ahead of an OPEC meeting next week.
French wheat prices continued to slip on Friday, pulled lower by the drop in US wheat futures and good weather in Europe with mild temperatures and rain forecast for the coming days, traders said.
Cocoa arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast reached 1,199,893 tonnes between the start of the 2003/04 (Oct-Sept) campaign and May 16, official data from the Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC) showed on Friday.
Ukraine, which faces a shortage of wheat in the 2003/04 July-June season after a poor grain crop in 2003, cut wheat imports to 23,500 tonnes in April from 170,200 tonnes in March, local analysts said on Friday.
US interest rates need to go up but how far and how fast depends heavily on what assumptions are made about measures of slack in the economy, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said on Thursday.
The dollar rallied on Friday, rebounding from a week of heavy selling against the euro, yen and other major currencies, and abetted by a batch of fairly upbeat US economic data.
India's foreign exchange reserves fell to $118.572 billion in the week ended May 21 from $118.628 billion in the previous week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its weekly statistical supplement on Saturday.
Speculators in euro futures grew a net long position to its largest level since late February in the week ended May 25, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday.
US Treasury prices fell on Friday after a surprisingly strong survey of manufacturing in the Midwest overshadowed soft readings on inflation and consumer sentiment.
US Treasury prices fell on Friday after a surprisingly strong survey of manufacturing in the Midwest overshadowed soft readings on inflation and consumer sentiment.
Argentine stocks closed 1.38 percent firmer on Friday, thanks to bargain hunting and a dose of optimism over the country's complicated sovereign debt restructuring, traders said.
The credit spreads of Tyco Inc may have already hit their lowest levels of the year on the combination of a ratings upgrade and its pledge Thursday to retire debt, but traders said more improvement may be on the way.
The credit spreads of Tyco Inc may have already hit their lowest levels of the year on the combination of a ratings upgrade and its pledge Thursday to retire debt, but traders said more improvement may be on the way.
Toronto stocks closed flat on Friday as acquisition activity among gold miners failed to inspire a market cautious ahead of the US holiday weekend and key labour reports due out next week.
Mexican stocks slumped on Friday following more than a week of gains, while the peso strengthened after the central bank held monetary policy steady at its twice-monthly meeting.
Ecuador sovereign bond prices tumbled in otherwise deathly quiet Friday trading as President Lucio Gutierrez' political and economic headaches intensified to a migraine that not even a record-breaking oil price rally is soothing.
Ecuador sovereign bond prices tumbled in otherwise deathly quiet Friday trading as President Lucio Gutierrez' political and economic headaches intensified to a migraine that not even a record-breaking oil price rally is soothing.
US blue chips eased while the Nasdaq edged higher on Friday, as investors weighed a batch of mixed economic reports showing consumer sentiment dropped unexpectedly in May, while business activity in the US Midwest beat forecasts.
Maoist rebels kidnapped more than 1,000 people, mainly teachers and students, from a remote area in western Nepal where the guerrillas have a heavy presence, government security officials said Saturday.
Seven people were killed Saturday after fire swept through a Portugal-registered oil tanker undergoing repair at Singapore's Keppel shipyard, a company spokeswoman said.
Armed men killed a United Nations observer and injured a second near the eastern Congolese town of Bukavu, which was calm on Saturday after several days of heavy fighting between army factions.
Arab League head Amr Moussa can see a possible future role for Arab forces in Iraq - but only once foreign occupiers leave, an Italian newspaper reported on Saturday.
US President George W. Bush said Saturday the United States would adhere to the "One-China" policy and oppose any independence moves by Taiwan during a telephone conversation with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Chinese state media reported.
Four months after UN weapons inspections began in Libya, a shipment of arms-related nuclear machinery from Turkey slipped past Western intelligence agencies and reached Libya, an atomic expert said on Saturday.
Several alleged Islamic militants held under a draconian security law complained Saturday to a junior cabinet minister of past torture by police and other abuses.
The Kurdish chief of the civil defence force in the northern oil centre of Kirkuk and his family were killed on early Saturday in a drive-by shooting, police said.
Iraq's Governing Council, the US-led administration and the United Nations agreed on Saturday on the cabinet that will serve in an Iraqi government due to take power on June 30, a senior Council member said.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday signalled Nato member Turkey could send more troops and take over command of the alliance's peacekeeping force in Afghanistan next year.
An Afghan court has sentenced to death a suspected member of the ousted Taleban regime over accusations he was involved in a bomb attack that killed 15 school children, an official said on Saturday.
Thousands of militants loyal to Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo at a rally on Saturday demanded United Nations peacekeepers disarm rebel fighters or leave the West African country.
During the three-day anti-polio national drive, commencing from June, polio vaccine drops would be administered to 1.5 million children up to five years' of age here.
The new sugarcane varieties, produced at Sugarcane Research Institute (SRI), here have the potential of giving higher yield, provided the recommended agronomic practices are adopted.
People belonging to various walks of life here have urged the government to announce maximum incentives and concessions for common man in the forthcoming federal budget for ensuring their survival.
The production growth of 39 large scale industrial items has been recorded at 10.70 percent during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year as compared to the same period last year.
Petroleum Minister, Chaudhry Nouraiz Shakoor said on Saturday the World Energy Forum greatly acknowledged Pakistan's proposal to Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to accommodate views of oil and gas consumers in the decision making.
The Annual Plan Action Co-ordination Committee has approved Rs 75.04 million for the ongoing projects of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2004-05.
A 27-year old youth from Khanpur suffered from cold in the head and pain in the left side of the nose. After two weeks or so, he also developed drooping of the left eyelid and blurring of the vision of the left side.
We came to know with great pleasure the announcement of summer vacations through your popular Business Recorder of May 23, 2004 that all the government and private schools and colleges in the province of Sindh will remain closed from June 01 to Jul
Herding cows across a wasteland that was the bed of the Aral Sea, Jenisbai fears for the future of Uzbekistan's semi-autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan.
The Federal Minister for Industries and Production has, according to press reports, asked the Ministry to formulate a National Industrial Policy (NIP) covering all the potential sectors for foreign and domestic investment within two months.
Cambodia's Secretary of State for Economy and Finance Ouk Rabun, currently on a visit to Pakistan, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pakistan's Secretary of Economic Affairs Division on Friday (May 28) in Islamabad, on the utilisation of a s
Coming at the heels of Tuesday's parcel bomb blast near a check-post at the Karachi Port, and synchronising with the increase in its death toll from one to two, much more shocking, indeed, were the two intermittent explosions that occurred, some 22 hours
The Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Dr Tariq Hassan in a statement the other day emphasised the need for appropriate fiscal reforms with a view to facilitating the investment banks and other non-banking financial institu
Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Punjab, Dr Farzana Nazir, has directed Medical Superintendent Mayo Hospital, Lahore, to take necessary steps for providing quality treatment facilities to children approaching the hospital.
The House Business Advisory Committee of the National Assembly will meet tomorrow (Monday), at 3.00 pm to discuss house business for the 14th session of the National Assembly.
The Capital Development Authority (CDA) pilot project envisaging installation of close-circuit video cameras at various public places in Islamabad is in doldrums.
Membership of neighbouring countries of Arabic Free Trade Zone Agreement (AFTZA) and bilateral agreements of developing countries with the European Union (EU) may create unfavourable situation for exports from Pakistan.
A Sindh government spokesman has strongly contradicted the allegations levelled by the Secretary General of CPNE against the government action of banning five newspapers.
Karachi Cement Dealers Action Committee (KCDAC) has said that the Chairman of State Cement Corporation is reluctant to hold talks with it although it had agreed to adhere to the strict conditions put forward by the Corporation.
In the face of really alarming situation that globally, someone still dies every 6.5 seconds of a tobacco-related disease, and tobacco consumption is still rising in several parts of the world particularly in poor and developing countries- World No Tobacc
Sindh Chief Minister Sardar Ali Mohammed Khan Mahar has said that all precautions would be taken to save the lives of the people threatened because of water pollution in the city water reserves and shortage of medicines in hospital of Thatta district.
The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has advocated that the government must make judicial reforms and create such environment that courts can decide matters in the shortest possible time.
The Commercial counsellors, posted abroad, would facilitate Pakistani exporters providing updated country reports, two-way trade flow data, market analysis and liasing between the European Union (EU) textile importers and Pakistani exporters.
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference has reiterated that it believes in a result-oriented dialogue, which presupposes that Kashmir be considered as a disputed territory.
The Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) has approved 181 project proposals for Sialkot Export Processing Zone requiring capital investment of $138 million for annual exports of $216 million.
British High Commissioner Mark Lyall-Grant has said that he believes that Kashmiris on both sides of the control line have become fed up with violence which achieves nothing but miseries and sufferings.
The NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has said that in the next fiscal year more than 60,000 new posts will be created in education, health, police, FC and agriculture departments.
