In Helsinki, the Finnish trade union for bus and truck drivers has gone on strike on Sunday evening, mainly over the use of part-time labor. The strike is estimated to affect 100,000 people in the capital area, crowding the remaining transit system on Monday morning. The strike is halting almost half of all bus traffic in and around Helsinki, especially hurting travellers commuting from outlying cities Espoo and Vantaa, where over 60% of bus traffic will be stopped.
The strike also affects 4,000 of Finland's 55,000 delivery trucks, as well a
John Fairfax Holdings Limited announced today that it will be purchasing the New Zealand online auction site TradeMe in a deal worth NZ$700 million.
An additional $50 million will be paid out if earnings targets are met over the next two years.
Sam Morgan, who founded Trade Me in 1999, is set to make over $220 million.
Fairfax chief executive David Kirk said "I am delighted Sam Morgan will remain with TradeMe for a good period of time. We also welcome as new colleagues the entire Trade Me staff." TradeMe has 48 employees.
"The business wil
AT&T Inc. and BellSouth announced a US$67 billion merger deal Sunday. If approved by shareholders and regulators, the merger would create the largest telecommunications company in the United States, with control of over half of the telephone lines in the country and the largest cellular service provider, Cingular Wireless.
"This transaction combines two solid, very well-run companies," AT&T Chairman and CEO Edward E. Whitacre said in a press statement. "BellSouth operates in an attractive region with a growing economy. It has great employees a
62 Clendon Rd Toorak, Victoria was the address of John Howard's 10 year celebration as scores of Invited guests ranging from fellow Liberal Party members to the business elite. Yet scores of onlookers without a $10,000 per table invitation had something different to say about Prime Minister as they staged a counter party.
Unionists and members of the local Melbourne community chanted at the arriving Prime Minister and other politicians in attendance about the lack of access Australians have to the political process in Australia. John Howard's
Today will mark Australian Prime Minister John Howard's 10th anniversary holding what is arguably the most powerful office in Australia. John Howard is Australia's second longest serving Prime Minister, behind Sir Robert Menzies.
Howard celebrated his decade in office last night at a gala dinner at Australian Parliament House in Canberra. Around 700 conservative supporters and business figures were present at the dinner.
Mr Howard gave a speech to his delegates, saying he was grateful to Australians for their support and promised to try not t
With a boycott by all seat-holding parties other than Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai party, the embattled Prime Minister of Thailand has ruled out resigning as demanded by protestors.
Announcing his plan to lead Thai Rak Thai candidates to sign up for the April 2 snap election on Thurday morning, Thaksin stated that it was business as usual in his role as now-caretaker Prime Minister. His intention is to address a rally this Friday at Sanam Luang, the location of last Sunday's protest. According to Thailand's English-language paper, The
The Centre for Independent Studies has released a paper calling for reform of university student fees system. The paper, authored by Andrew Norton, argues that the cap on loans to full fee paying students is too low. The current cap allows for loans during a lifetime of AU$50,950.
"Setting the FEE-HELP limit at this amount biases the market against courses that are long or have high per year costs, or both," argues Norton in the paper. "The loan cap is a crude way of controlling lending, taking no account of course costs or capacity to repay."
Residents, business owners and developers attended a low profile, "private" neighborhood meeting about the Elmwood Village Hotel proposal and redesign in Buffalo, New York last night. At least 50 people from the Penhurst block, the Claremont block, the Granger block and various other locations attended. A representative from Forever Elmwood was also at the meeting. Joel Golombeck, City Councilman for the Elmwood area, was also among the attendees.
The Elmwood Village Hotel is a seven million dollar proposal by Savarino Construction Services C
With U.S. President George W Bush preparing for a March 2 visit to India, the two countries' diplomatic teams are pressing hard to reach agreement on a landmark nuclear fuel agreement.
India's booming economy, with 8% annual growth, has led to large expenditures to both its civilian and military infrastructure but few of those contracts have fallen to U.S. firms. The U.S. trade deficit with India nearly doubled between 2001 and 2005, to $10 billion.
A trade agreement between India and the United States regarding nuclear fuel, a key for India'
At a private luncheon in his home state of Utah, Republican U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch delivered some strong words for critics of President Bush's domestic surveillance program and war on terrorism.
Speaking to a few dozen political and business leaders, Hatch defended the President's surveillance actions: "I have to tell you, this president has guts and he deserves your support." He reserved specific criticism for his fellow Congress leaders, saying that while they are "moaning and groaning in Congress because [the President] didn't abide by w
Two Australian researchers at the Australian National University estimate that a global pandemic of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu could kill between 1.4 and 140 million humans and cause a global recession. They will formally present their research to the Lowy Institute in Sydney today.
Professor Warwick McKibbin, a well respected economic modeller, member of the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia and health expert and Dr Alexandra Sidorenko modelled the effect of a bird flu pandemic on human health and the global economy. Their study
Quoting Theodore Roosevelt, who said that we must do “the greatest good, for the greatest number,” Harold A. Schaitberger, of The International Association of Fire Fighters, (IIAF), announced that the his organization was joining the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, (TRCP).
In a press release, Schaitberger, who is IIAF General President, said, "I’m proud to announce that, along with a number of our sister unions in the Building Trades, the Machinists and others, we, (the IIAF), are joining the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partn
