Results

Higher food prices may be here to stay as demand from developing countries and production costs rise, says the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
It warned that the current spike in global food prices was higher than previous records, partly because bad weather had ruined crops.
Although high prices will ease off, other factors, such as [...]

Thailand’s top military commander has said he cannot rule out the possibility of a coup to overthrow the country’s government.
The warning comes amid mounting political tensions centred on a government minister accused of insulting the country’s revered king.
“No soldier wants to stage a coup to topple the government, but I cannot guarantee that there will [...]

YOKOHAMA — Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda kicked off a major Africa development conference Wednesday by pledging to double Japan’s annual net official development assistance to the continent to $1.8 billion by 2012 and extend up to $4 billion in new yen loans over the next five years, in particular for road projects.
Tokyo will also set [...]

Import of U.S. beef will resume next week as the Korean government yesterday took the final administrative step amid widespread public opposition.
Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun announced the new import conditions in a news conference, in which he pledged that the government will do its best to protect public safety.
“If there is any case of a [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the biggest U.S. warehouse club operator, said on Thursday its quarterly profit jumped 32 percent, beating expectations, as shoppers flocked to its stores for discounts on food and gasoline.
Costco and its rivals like Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Sam’s Club and BJ’s [...]

Japan will refrain from identifying Takeshima — a pair of Seoul-controlled rocky islets in the Sea of Japan known as Dokdo in South Korea — as an “integral part of Japan” in an educational document, a government paper said Tuesday.
Earlier this month, government sources said the education ministry planned to add the phrase in a [...]

Nepal is set to abolish its once revered monarchy and create a new republic in the Himalayas.
The move will meet an important demand of Maoist fighters who waged a campaign to rid the country of its royalty.
A special assembly elected in April was set to hold its first meeting on Wednesday and vote to abolish [...]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called on Wednesday for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step aside or face the collapse of his coalition and an early election after damaging allegations of corruption.
A day after an American businessman told an Israeli court how he handed Olmert envelopes stuffed with thousands of dollars in [...]

The French president has suggested that the EU should consider capping value added tax on fuel to help countries deal with surging oil prices.
Nicolas Sarkozy warned there was no sign the oil price would dip and urged EU member states to consider his idea.
Fishermen across France are continuing to blockade ports and fuel depots in [...]

Myanmar’s military rulers have extended the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s foremost democracy leader, according to officials.
The authorities informed Suu Kyi of the decision to extend her confinement on Tuesday, at a meeting at her home in Yangon.
“Her house arrest has already been extended,” one official was quoted by the AFP [...]