Berlin - European inflation jump

Bangkok  - Thailand's central bank on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in two years, hiking it 0.25 per cent to 3.5 per cent in an effort to curb inflation.

Duangmanee Vongpradhip, assistant governor of the Bank of Thailand's monetary policy division, said the hike to the bank's one-day bond repurchase rate was deemed necessary to keep inflation from getting out of control.

Buenos Aires - An estimated 300,000 people gathered Tuesday in Buenos Aires in opposing rallies over the ongoing political confrontation over higher export tariffs for certain crops, local media re

Berlin - German investor confidence recorded a bigger-than -forecast fall in July, a key indicator released Tuesday showed, as a surging euro, spiralling inflation and worries about higher interes

Manila - Remittances from overseas Filipinos rose 14.74 per cent in the first five months of the year as more workers found employment abroad, the government said Tuesday. 

Manila - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday announced a fresh 4-billion-peso (88.88-million-dollar) subsidy programme to help poor Filipinos cope with higher prices.

Arroyo said 1 billion pesos would help poor consumers pay their electricity bills while another 1 billion pesos would be used to fund microfinancing projects for wives of public transport workers.

The rest of the money would finance the upgrade of government hospitals to accommodate more indigent patients, a programme for senior citizens and the rehabilitation of typhoon-devastated areas, she said.

"We will continue to provide funds to help sectors who are severely affected by the rising oil prices," Arroyo said at a cabinet meeting where she ordered the allocation of the funds.