Stories for November 15th 2007
Fed promises more regular information and less secrecy
The US Federal Reserve will make four economic forecasts each year, up from the current two, which will include more information on overall inflation projections, chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday.
Plans for highway linking Chile, Brazil and landlocked Bolivia
The presidents of Chile, Bolivia and Brazil want to step up plans to build a highway from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans that would boost trade, Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley said in Santiago
Australians fear for only known white humpback whale
Australians fear that the world's only known white humpback whale could be slaughtered as Japan's whaling fleet prepares to embark on its annual hunt in the Southern Ocean, reports the Sydney press.
Beijing confirms US dollar as the leading global currency
The US dollar will remain the main currency for China's massive foreign reserves despite earlier suggestions that the weakening greenback weighed too heavily, a senior Chinese central bank official said here Wednesday.
Warning on US/EU interest rate gap and fund flows
The US dollar's weakness has benefits for global imbalances, but fund inflows to the United States could shrink if the gap between U.S. and Euro-zone interest rates reverses, warned Bank of Japan board member Atsushi Mizuno.
Chavez threatens Spanish corporations in Venezuela
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday he would force Spanish businesses to be more accountable due to a spat in which Spanish King Juan Carlos told him to “shut up” during a summit.
OPEC: no output increase decision until December
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ruled out an output increase in the coming summit and said that the surge in global fuel prices can not be tracked to shortage of oil in the market and certainly not because of the fast-growing Indian and Chinese economies.
“Internet access for the next billion” conference in Rio
Participants at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum, which has brought some 1,700 delegates from government, civil society and the private sector to Rio de Janeiro this week, called today for Internet “access for the next billion” people.
Plenty of oil for another century says Saudi Arabia
World oil reserves at current demand are sufficient for the next century and the global oil industry should aim to produce at least 3 trillion bbl from conventional recoverable resources in known fields and discoveries over the next several decades, according to the head of Saudi Aramco.
EU low cost airlines accused of “misleading web info”
The European Union consumer protection chief has accused low-cost airlines of obscuring the true price of airfare. The carriers were given four months to change their advertising practices or face restrictions on their Web sites.
