Thailand mulls price supports for rice
AFP, Bangkok
With the threat of farmers' protests hanging over the embattled government's head. Thailand's premier has floated a scheme to buy local rice at inflated prices, the government said Thursday.
Export prices for Thai rice hit a record high this year. Prices have softened over the last month but remain steep, with benchmark Pathumthani fragrant rice selling for 938 dollars a tonnes, up from 512 dollars in January.
But farmers say that millers and exporters are not passing along those gains. Faced with rising costs for fuel and fertilizer, farmers say they are struggling to break even and have threatened to launch protests.
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej proposed in a statement that a government bank would buy rice from farmers at 14,000 baht (428 dollars) per tonne -- a 40 percent premium over the going rate.
India seals investment
pact with Myanmar
AFP, New Delhi
India's cabinet cleared on Thursday the signing of a decade-long investment pact with military-ruled Myanmar, part of efforts to woo its energy-rich neighbour.
The agreement comes amid sharp criticism by the global community' of Myanmar's cyclone relief efforts and longstanding international calls for India to pressure the junta-ruled nation to shift to democracy.
India was until the mid-1990s a big supporter of Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. But it has since cultivated ties with the junta as it sees Myanmar as an important source of energy7 to power fast economic growth.
The union cabinet gave its approval to the bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement with the government of Myanmar and its ratification," Information Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told reporters in New Delhi.
United Airlines to slash fleet, jobs amid soaring fuel prices
AFP, Washington
United Airlines on Wednesday said it was cutting fleet and operations and eliminating up to 1,100 additional jobs to compete amid soaring fuel prices and a weakening US economy.
United, a unit of UAL Corporation, said it would reduce its mainline domestic capacity7 by 17 percent to 18 percent over the 2008 and 2009 period and remove 100 aircraft from its mainline fleet.
The company said domestic capacity in the fourth quarter would be reduced by 14 percent from the same period in 2007.
As part of its plan to reduce the size of its operations, United expects to reduce the number of salaried and management employees and contractors by 1,400 to 1,600 by the end of the year. The work force reduction includes a previously announced reduction of500 employees.
Sweden rejects France Telecom’s bid for TeliaSonera
AFP, Stockholm
Swedish Finance Minister Mats Odell said Tursday that the government believed a 33-biIlion-euro (51-billion-dollar) bid for Swedish-Finnish operator TeliaSonera by France Telecom was too low.
The Swedish state is the largest shareholder in the company, holding a 37.3- percent stake.
"My preliminary conclusion is that the bid from France Telecom does not correspond to TeliaSonera's full potential and worth. I thus share the TeliaSonera board’s interpretation of today's bid," Odell said in a statement.
The TeliaSonera board of directors decided unanimously to reject the France Telecom proposal, worth about 33 billion euros (51 billion dollars), saying it "substantially undervalues the company."
The Swedish state has previously announced plans to sell its stake in the phone group, along with its holdings in five other companies. In May 2007 it sold eight percent of TeliaSonera to institutional investors.