| Business News |
HP in talks to buy EDS to compete with IBM
(Reuters)
 Reuters - Hewlett-Packard Co
is in talks to buy technology outsourcing company
Electronic Data Systems Corp for $12 billion to $13
billion in a deal which would vault it to a close second to IBM
in technology services.
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AIG sees no need to honor ex-CEO request to delay AGM
(Reuters)
 Reuters - Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former chief
executive of American International Group , has said the
insurer is in "crisis" and urged a delay in its annual general
meeting scheduled for Wednesday, according to a letter he sent
to the board.
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Australia's Westpac bids $17.6 billion for St George
(Reuters)
 Reuters - Westpac Banking Corp Ltd
launched a $17.6 billion all-share bid for smaller rival St
George Bank Ltd in a tie-up that would create
Australia's biggest bank by market value.
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Nissan operating profit falls 14 percent
(Reuters)
 Reuters - Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) reported a 13.7
percent drop in fourth quarter operating profit on Tuesday and
forecast a sharp fall in annual profits this year due to a
weaker dollar, rising commodities prices and sinking U.S.
demand.
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SocGen net profit falls 23 pct, beats consensus
(Reuters)
 Reuters - Societe Generale , the French
bank hit by the world's worst rogue trader scandal, reported a
23.4 percent fall in first quarter net profit although earnings
came in above the average market forecast.
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Survey: 1 in 10 boomers borrowing for everyday expenses
(AP)
AP - The economic downturn is hitting roughly one in 10 middle-aged and older Americans especially hard, compelling them to borrow money for everyday living expenses and to seek help from family, friends or charities, according to a survey released Tuesday by the AARP.
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| Top U.N. human rights forum to examine food crisis - 09, May 2008 |
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold a special session on May 23 to examine how the world's food crisis is undermining the right to food for millions of people, officials said on Friday.
The rights to adequate food and freedom from hunger are enshrined in international law as basic, universal human rights. The request was submitted by Cuba, Egypt and Pakistan and approved by 41 of the Council's 47 member states.
In a statement, the sponsors said that while middle-class families in the Western world spend about 20 percent of their budgets on food, for families in developing countries it can make up 60 to 80 percent of their incomes.
"This rise in the price of food, in addition to increased logistical costs linked to the price of oil, makes it difficult for the international agencies to meet the demands imposed on them, since the costs of providing food relief have considerably gone up," the sponsors said.
Protests, strikes and riots have erupted in some 40 poorer countries around the world after dramatic rises in the prices of wheat, rice, corn, oils and other essential foods.
More than 850 million people worldwide are thought to be facing acute food shortages, and another 2 billion suffering from malnutrition, which the World Health Organisation has said can cause life-long health problems for children.
People in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have been most strongly affected by the food price spikes that economists have linked to factors including drought, high fuel and fertilizer costs, the use of crops for biofuels, and commodity speculation.
Olivier De Schutter, the new U.N. food envoy, last week called for the Council to hold a special session this month to address what he said was a "massive violation" of human rights.
(c) 2008 Reuters
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| Other news from HotNews category: |
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CHARLESTON, West Virginia (Reuters) - Democratic front-runner Barack Obama made a quick stop in West Virginia on Monday ahead of an expected bad loss there to White House rival Hillary Clinton, but he was already looking past the contest to November's fig
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Heavy marijuana use can boost blood levels of a particular protein, perhaps raising a person's risk of a heart attack or stroke, U.S. government researchers said on Tuesday.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush heads back to the Middle East on Tuesday facing broad skepticism over his chances of securing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before he leaves office in less than nine months.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States announced on Monday it had revived a program offering rewards of up to $5 million a head for information leading to the arrest of 13 suspects in Rwanda's genocide.
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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's army began taking steps on Tuesday to stop gunmen and groups from illegally carrying arms and to end -- by force if necessary -- a week of fighting between Hezbollah fighters and pro-government gunmen.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain remains a strong candidate despite a gloomy national mood and record low ratings for President George W. Bush, according to a Washington Post-ABC New poll released on Monday.
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YANGON (Reuters) - Two more American aid flights were due to leave for cyclone-hit Myanmar on Tuesday where the reclusive military government is keeping most foreign aid workers away from the devastated Irrawaddy delta.
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DUJIANGYAN, China (Reuters) - Heavy rainfall and wrecked roads hampered rescuers' efforts to reach the areas hardest-hit by China's worst earthquake in three decades on Tuesday as the death toll rose to nearly 10,000.
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CHARLESTON, West Virginia (Reuters) - Democratic front-runner Barack Obama made a brief stop in West Virginia on Monday before an expected bad loss there to rival Hillary Clinton, but looked past the contest to plan for November's presidential campaign.
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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's army said it will use force from Tuesday to stop fighting in the country between pro- and anti-government forces that has recalled the 1975-90 civil war.
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| Software News |
Microsoft software gives free tours of space
(Reuters)
 Reuters - Any Star Trek fan knows that space
travel is not always easy, but Microsoft Corp wants to make
traveling the "final frontier" as simple as turning on your
computer.
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SOA Software buys LogicLibrary
(InfoWorld)
InfoWorld - Matching up critical components in the SOA space, SOA Software, which provides SOA governance automation, said Monday it has acquired SOA repository and governance vendor LogicLibrary.
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Microsoft readies service packs for dev tools
(InfoWorld)
InfoWorld - Microsoft released Monday beta versions of separate service packs for the Visual Studio 2008 software development platform and the accompanying .Net Framework 3.5, a Microsoft official said in a blog.
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Google's Friend Connect To Spread Social Data
(TechWeb)
TechWeb - InformationWeek - The software is part of an emerging set of technologies like OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial, and the data access APIs published by Facebook, Google, and MySpace.
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Three Charged in Dave & Buster's Hacking Job
(PC World)
PC World - It may not have been the greatest hack ever, but police say the malicious software sneaked onto restaurant chain Dave &...
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Windows XP SP3 Woes Especially Affect AMD Systems
(NewsFactor)
NewsFactor - Users who thought the Windows XP operating system would be more reliable than its younger sibling Vista are being buffeted by reports that the latest update for XP, Service Pack 3, has its own problems.
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