Business

In a true sign of the times, a mobile phone ringtone has topped the UK singles chart. The Crazy Frog ringtone, long marketed to children and teenagers was last week launched as a single - and promptly proved more popular than both Coldplay's comeback release, Speed of Sound and last weeks number one by Oasis. The song, if it can be called that, is a variation of the hugely popular Crazy Frog ringtone remixed with Axel F - the theme tune from the 1980s film Beverly Hills Cop which starred Eddie Murphy. The Crazy Frog ringtone has been marketed

Irish low fares airline, Ryanair, this week celebrated its 20th birthday. Having reached the milestone, the airline promptly used the opportunity, as always, to sell seats; launching a massive 200,000 seat sale at 99p/99c a seat. The airline was founded in 1985 by the Irish businessman, Dr Tony Ryan. It began its existence flying a small 15 seat aircraft between Waterford and London Gatwick with the small aim of breaking the duopoly on London-Ireland flights, held at that time by British Airways and Aer Lingus. Today however, the airline now f

Former United States president Bill Clinton visited Bucharest on Saturday to attend the Beyond Borders conference, where he delivered a keynote presentation about the meaning of branding, or marketing, a country. The Beyond Borders conference was also attended by several high-profile Romanian personalities, including President Traian Băsescu, Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, opposition leader Mircea Geoană and former Prime Minister Petre Roman. Clinton said that since his last visit to Romania in 1997, things have changed positively. Th

Belinda Stronach, Canadian MP for Newmarket-Aurora crossed the floor from the Conservatives to join the Liberals just days before a scheduled confidence vote in the Liberal government. She was immediately rewarded by being appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal. "I've been uncomfortable for some time with the direction the Conservative party was taking," Stronach said. "I regret to say that I do not believe the party leader is truly sensitive to the needs o

In an effort to ease complaints by the U.S. and Europe about a heavy influx of low priced Chinese goods, China will raise export tariffs on 74 categories of textile products in June. This follows plans from the U.S. to impose quotas on Chinese textiles and clothing. Products likely to see an increase from the Chinese move include synthetic fiber shirts, trousers, knit shirts and blouses, cotton shirts, and combined cotton yarn. Last week, similar restrictions were imposed by the U.S. on cotton trousers, knit shirts, and underwear. Currently

Figures released by the Brazilian government have shown that the rate of deforestation in the Amazon has increased. In the period August 2003 to August 2004, 26,000 square kilometres of the rainforest was felled. This number is up 6% from the 12 month period prior to August 2003. The total proportion of felled Amazon now stands at 17.3%, according to the World Wildlife Fund. This has led many environmentalists to worry that the cattle and soy trade are being put above the environment. The 2003–2004 period saw the second largest tree felling,

VISA has opened a regional office in Bucharest, Romania to represent and co-ordinate the activities of the company in Romania and Bulgaria. The Bucharest bureau is the eighth office in the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) region, made up of 84 countries. The use of VISA cards in Romania is currently growing at a fast rate. VISA has 21 member banks in Romania which have issued a total of 2.8 million cards. The general director of VISA Southeastern Europe and North Africa, Tony Brogna, said that VISA cards embedded wit

Following accusations issued by the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), British Member of Parliament George Galloway and Senator Charles Pasqua of France have vehemently denied any wrongdoing. George Galloway declared: I've now had a chance to read the report which was compiled without this Senate committee asking me a single question about these absurd allegations. I repeat once more. I have never traded or benefited from any oil deals with Iraq. <p> One of the companies named, with ostensible links to me-- A

Thousands of Uzbeks are fleeing across Uzbekistan's borders to seek refuge in neighboring Kyrgyzstan despite the border crossings being closed. Their flight is in response to the violence in Andijan. Thousands are said to have taken to the streets of the city to protest the unfair trial of Muslim activists and draw attention to human rights abuses. A trial of 23 local businessmen on charges of religious extremism triggered the protests. Soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators, killing many. Eyewitnesses have said that they were unarmed civil

Arab news channel Al Jazeera announced Saturday that it plans to open an English-language channel called Al Jazeera International at the beginning of 2006. The project fits in with the robust growth and in-your-face style of the original channel, but faces significant challenges in the new markets. Al Jazeera's confrontational approach to news has earned it enemies in every government in the Middle East. Its independence has caused the Iranian government to close its Tehran bureau for covering ethnic riots near the border with Iraq. Al Jazeer

A report on May 10 by web analytics company WebSideStory estimates usage in the United States of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) web browser to have fallen to 88.9% by April 29, 2005, from 89.9% on February 18, 2005. Microsoft's strongest competitor, Mozilla Firefox, improved its market share from 5.7% to 6.8%. All browsers based on Mozilla program code combined have a market share of 9%, while other browser alternatives combined make up a share of 2.1%. The report also contains data from Germany and Japan. Firefox was found to have a mu

Background Wikipedia, Wikinews' sibling project, has in-depth background articles on: slavery trafficking in human beings slave trade international labour standards The International Labour Organization (ILO) released a major report Wednesday, finding that currently more than 12.3 million people are enslaved worldwide. An estimated 2.4 million of them are victims of slave trafficking, and their combined labor generates profits of over 32 billion dollars annually. Forced labor is "a social evil which has no place in the modern world," sa