Business

The Australian Federal Opposition has hounded the Treasurer, Peter Costello, over the appointment of Robert Gerard to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board. Mr Gerard announced on Friday 2nd that he will resign from the Board, citing the events of this week as the reason. On Tuesday, November 29, Wayne Swan, the Shadow Treasurer asked of Costello in the first question of Question Time about an apparent statement that Costello made to Gerard, namely, "I know there's an issue with the Tax Office but I don't have a problem with you on the boa

A cid-gallup poll shows former head of state Óscar Arias Sánchez is currently atop in opinion polls as the likely next president with 45% in the poll. Arias declared his intention to run after the legislature decided to bring back presidential re-election in 2003. He will be running for the National Liberation Party. He has been outspoken in favor of the ratification of CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Agreement). Others receiving votes include Ottón Solís with 20% (Citizens Action Party, PAC), Ricardo Toledo with 10% (Social-Christia

Members of the WTO have made statements in preparation of the next WTO meeting in December. Peter Mandelson, the EU's trade commissioner, has proposed a six-point package to help poor countries. The package includes guarantees of access to cheap drugs, special help for the 40 least-developed nations, compensation for poor countries affected by the loss of their access to Europe for bananas and sugar, relief for African cotton producers, and assistance to help countries build their capacity to trade. The EU is holding strong on its agricultu

Two Greenpeace protestors entered the CBI conference at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London and delayed a speech being made by the Prime Minister Tony Blair, in which he was expected to announce the consideration of further nuclear power stations to offset the increasing gas prices being experienced by industry in the UK. The protestors, wearing yellow safety jackets over business suits, climbed up into the ceiling rafters and held banners saying "NUCLEAR: WRONG ANSWER", and dropped 'radioactive confetti' onto the delegates down bel

Legendary musician Sir Paul McCartney has boycotted China in response to a preview of BBC news footage that was filmed undercover at a fur market in Guangzhou, China. The footage, some of which is to air during BBC's Six O'Clock News at 18:00 GMT on November 28, 2005, shows animals (particularly dogs and cats) being thrown from the top of buses and being dropped into boiling water. McCartney's wife, Heather, also watched the footage and alleged that some footage she had seen clearly showed that the animals were alive when they were skinned. The

U.S. Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) pled guilty today to conspiring to take bribes in exchange for using his influence as a member of the House Appropriations Committee to help a defense contractor get business. In total he pled guilty to one count of income tax evasion and four counts of conspiracy, namely mail fraud, wire fraud, bribery of public official and accepting bribes. U.S. District judge Larry A. Burns scheduled Cunnigham to be sentenced on February 27. He is facing up to 10 years in prison and nearly $500,000 in fines

Despite heavy snowing, tens of thousands of workers and supporters marched today in Ljubljana, Slovenia in the largest demonstration since the country's independence in 1991 to protest against the government programme of economic reforms, including privatisation of public services, tax cuts for businessmen and the abolition of the lower value added tax rate for items like food and books. The protests, jointly organized by several trade union federations and attended by representatives of almost all Slovenian trade unions, began with an hour-lo

In Friday's National Hockey League contest between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Boston Bruins at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. Peter Forsberg almost netted his first "hat trick" in a Flyers uniform. At one point during the game, he had been given credit for three goals, however an official review took his first goal away, and officially he scored his eighth goal of the season at 13:06 in the second period with assists from Simon Gagne and former Hartford Whaler Sami Kapanen. To date, there have been 24 hat tricks (3 or

The European Union agreed to reform its sugar subsidies Thursday. The EU has been under pressure by other members of the World Trade Organization to change its agriculture sector. The EU has been blamed for stalling trade talks at the recent APEC convention. The EU offered a guaranteed price, paid by consumers, with Brussels buying at about three times the average world market price. The WTO ruled the EU's sugar prices to be illegal earlier this year after following complaints from Australia, Brazil, and Thailand. The reform package, goi

The recently elected president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse, has upset some with the appointment of a fellow hardliner, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, as the country's Prime Minister. The Sinhala nationalist, Mr. Wicremanayake, is a former holder of the post during Chandrika Kumaratunga's presidency in 2000 and 2001. Most noticeably hit by the news were the country's stock markets. Markets in Colombo fell 7% on the news, having fallen by the same amount last Friday when Mr. Rajapaskse's election result was announced. Mr. Rajapakse was elected

Police in Thailand have reported two bomb explosions in the southern province of Narathiwat. Twelve people are reported to have been injured, including three police officers, a two-year-old boy, and a 58-year-old Malaysian tourist. The two explosions came within a five minute interval around 6:00am local time (23:00 GMT). The target of the attack was a restaurant in a market town, Sungai Golok, which borders with Malaysia. Police Captain Teerapak Sengseng said that the first of the explosive devices was concealed in a fruit basket, and that

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC 2005 wrapped up this weekend with trade impasse unresolved. Member countries fell short of blaming EU for causing the impasse. The EU has been largely criticized for not opening up its own agriculture market. South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said "The leaders here ... are basically saying that now the ball is in Europe's court". Member countries talked of high oil prices hurting their economies and agreed on energy efficiency, conservation and diversification. Supply and demand issues