Saturday May 17, 2008
EUROPE 
Brace for bumpy ride after stellar results: BA's Walsh
Neighbours' lifeline buoys Icelandic krona
Iceland was offered an emergency loan by the central banks of Denmark, Sweden and Norway to shore up the krona and avert an economic collapse. The currency rallied 3.7 per cent against the euro after the banks agreed to provide €1.5-billion ($2.3-billion), which would double the Atlantic island's foreign currency reserves. The krona has dropped as much as 26 per cent against the euro this year on concern Iceland's commercial banks have taken on too much foreign debt, prompting speculation the central bank may have to step in. Support for the currency may enable policy makers to halt a series of interest rate increases. Inflation accelerated to 11.8 per cent in April, the fastest pace in 18 years, even after the key rate increased to a record 15.5 per cent.
HP to supply Russians from St. Petersburg hub
Hewlett-Packard Co. and Foxconn International Holdings started building a $50-million (U.S.) factory near St. Petersburg that will be able to produce half a million personal computers a year for the Russian market. HP expects to ship 40,000 desktop computers a month at the factory when it's completed within a year, the company said yesterday. Foxconn is a unit of Taipei-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world's largest contract electronics maker. St. Petersburg, on the Baltic Sea, is offering tax breaks and other incentives to lure foreign manufacturers to its new Kolpino industrial zone, Governor Valentina Matviyenko said. HPQ (NYSE) rose 56 cents to $47.29. 2317 (Taipei) rose 1 Taiwan dollar to 182 Taiwan dollars ($5.93).
Inner cabinet bolsters Putin's hold on power
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has created an inner cabinet of key ministers that will meet weekly, further strengthening his grip over Russia's levers of power.The new forum mimics a format used by Mr. Putin as president before he handed over the Kremlin to his close ally Dmitry Medvedev last week. Mr. Medvedev could in theory choose to attend the meetings of Mr. Putin's inner circle, but he is not expected to do so.
Russian doomsday cultists forced from cave
Toxic fumes from rotting corpses drove the final members of a Russian doomsday cult yesterday from the cave where they had been waiting six months for the end of the world, officials said.
AMERICAS
DEAD END FOR FREE TRADE
Peter Durant is getting edgy. The 41-year-old Ontario trucker should be on his way to Toledo, Ohio, to pick up a load of Oreo cookies for Kraft Canada.
AOL unbrands itself
Unless you're looking carefully, you'll likely miss the fact that the new Asylum website for young men is a creation of Time Warner Inc.'s AOL. Same for WalletPop on personal finance, Spinner on indie music and StyleList on fashion.
Closing bell tolls end of era for CME
Fannie Mae relaxes down-payment policy
U.S. consumer confidence falls; housing starts mixed
U.S., N. Korea reach deal to provide food aid
The United States said yesterday it has reached a deal with North Korea to provide more than 500,000 tonnes of food aid over the coming year to the closed-off Communist nation.
Peru plans $360-million Lima rail expansion
Peru's government plans to seek bids May 29 on a $360-million (U.S.) expansion of Lima's overhead railway to ease traffic congestion in the country's capital, a government official said. At least three international groups are expected to bid on the project, which will add 11.7 kilometres and nine stations to the 9.2-kilometre system, David Lemor, director of Peru's Proinversion investment agency, said yesterday in an interview in Lima.
Lawsuit could derail Texas-Mexico border fence
A drive by the Bush administration to build 110 kilometres of fencing along the Texas-Mexico border could be sidetracked by a lawsuit filed by 19 border communities yesterday.The lawsuit accused Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and others of failing to notify landowners of their rights and to negotiate a reasonable price for access to their lands.
ASIA-PACIFIC
'Shock of consciousness' sweeps autocratic China in wake of temblor
With their expensive Mercedes-Benz sports vehicles, the wealthy members of the Chongqing car club are normally accustomed to tooling around town in their luxury cars and taking weekend leisure trips.
Hunger, despair take hold in Myanmar
Isolated from the outside world by a military regime ruthlessly determined to control the flow of international aid, and battered again by torrential downpours, the stranded victims of Myanmar's cyclone disaster are succumbing to hunger, disease and despair.
Earlier calamities in China shrouded in secrecy
What a difference a few decades makes. The earthquake in Sichuan and its massive loss of life has garnered blanket media coverage, both by Chinese and foreign reporters. China even invited foreign disaster-relief experts to help out.
Almost five million left homeless, China says
With the death toll still rising from the Sichuan earthquake, China disclosed that at least four million apartments and homes had been damaged or destroyed in the massive quake, leaving almost five million people homeless.
Canada's special response team waits for phone to ring
Canada's soldier-run disaster response team is all geared up with nowhere to go, still waiting for a call for help from Myanmar, where a cyclone hit in early May, as well as from China, where a massive earthquake struck five days ago.
Suicide bomber as young as 10 hits Canadians
A boy, possibly as young as 10, was used in a suicide-bomb attack against a joint Canadian and Afghan army patrol in Afghanistan yesterday.Two Canadian soldiers and two Afghan soldiers were wounded in the attack about 40 kilometres from Kandahar city, the military said.
AFRICA-MIDEAST
Blade Runner takes giant step toward Olympics
Oscar's blades are not the thin end of the wedge.Oscar Pistorius, South Africa's double amputee sprinter, can use his blade-shaped artificial limbs to try to qualify for the Olympic Games.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai to face off June 27
Seven weeks after the presidential election, Zimbabwe finally set a runoff date yesterday, saying long-time President Robert Mugabe and rival Morgan Tsvangirai will face off in a June 27 ballot that the opposition fears will be skewed by thuggery and fraud.
Palestinian cause gets praise from bin Laden
Osama bin Laden vowed yesterday to fight Israel for the liberation of the Palestinians, saying the Palestinian cause is the most important factor driving al-Qaeda's war with the West and saying it was the motivation for the 19 Muslims, most of them Saudi Arabians, who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
