WASHINGTON, Sept 19, 2008 (AFP) - The United States criticized Asian economies for attempting to bail out cash-starved companies during a regional financial crisis a decade ago -- yet now throws a lifeline to its own companies ravaged by a credit crisis, a move experts say smacks of double standards.

BANGKOK, Sept 18, 2008 (AFP) - Thailand's newly elected premier sought to assure investors Thursday that the global financial crisis would not greatly affect his country.

PARIS, September 15, 2008 (AFP) - The fall of Lehman Brothers has heightened fears that the world is about to hit its worst financial crisis in a century, analysts said.

The blue riband US investment bank filed for bankruptcy protection in New York on Monday and the shockwaves reverberated around the world -- from stock and commodities markets to central banks and governments.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday it was time for the crisis in Georgia `to ...

As helicopter gunships hovered Sunday over Georgia`s breakaway province of South Ossetia, newly ...

As helicopter gunships hovered Sunday over Georgia`s breakaway province of South Ossetia, newly ...

As helicopter gunships hovered Sunday over Georgia`s breakaway province of South Ossetia, newly ...

As helicopter gunships hovered Sunday over Georgia`s breakaway province of South Ossetia, newly ...

As helicopter gunships hovered Sunday over Georgia`s breakaway province of South Ossetia, newly ...

Swiss banking giant UBS will unveil its second quarter results Tuesday still scarred from its subprime-related `annus horribilis` and the loss of billions of dollars -- and wealthy clients

Swiss banking giant UBS will unveil its second quarter results Tuesday still scarred from its subprime-related `annus horribilis` and the loss of billions of dollars -- and wealthy clients

Swiss banking giant UBS will unveil its second quarter results Tuesday still scarred from its subprime-related `annus horribilis` and the loss of billions of dollars -- and wealthy clients

Swiss banking giant UBS will unveil its second quarter results Tuesday still scarred from its ...

Swiss banking giant UBS will unveil its second quarter results Tuesday still scarred from its ...

Swiss banking giant UBS will unveil its second quarter results Tuesday still scarred from its ...

Swiss banking giant UBS will unveil its second quarter results Tuesday still scarred from its ...

WASHINGTON, August 7, 2008 (AFP) - A year has passed since the credit crunch first jolted financial markets, but there still appears to be little light at the end of the tunnel despite emergency measures taken by the US authorities.

PARIS, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - The following are comments made to AFP by economists on the origin and nature of global financial turmoil.

-- Elie Cohen, research director at France's CNRS

It's an American crisis and a European crisis. But I am sure it will soon be an Asian crisis in the sense that there will also be an economic slowdown in Asia.

PARIS, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - The collapse of the subprime mortgage market in the United States and the subsequent global financial crisis has provoked the sharpest fall on world stock markets since the end of the Internet bubble in 2001-2002.

In the last year, leading indices have lost between 12 and 25 percent of their value.

PARIS, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - A year ago, on August 9, 2007, a fund run by French bank BNP Paribas sent distress signals.

The European Central Bank, already alarmed by signs of strain on interest rate markets, intervened by providing emergency funding to eurozone banks.

FRANKFURT, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - The ECB and its head Jean-Claude Trichet stand high for deft handling of a 12-month financial drama verging on disaster but still face a nightmare in guiding the eurozone through a long winter.

PARIS, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - A year-long crisis is shaking the foundations of some of the world's mightiest financial bodies and economies, confounding policymakers who now confront an increasingly fragile and uncertain future.

BRUSSELS, July 17, 2008 (AFP) - Belgium's King Albert II on Thursday refused to accept his Prime Minister Yves Leterme's resignation after consulting ministers on the best way to end the political crisis, a palace spokesman said.

BRUSSELS, July 17, 2008 (AFP) - Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme was still at the helm Thursday as the king consulted ministers and unionists on the best way to end a crisis caused by the premier's decision to resign.

BRUSSELS, July 16, 2008 (AFP) - Belgium's King Albert II continued talks Wednesday with the country's main political parties in a bid to resolve the crisis triggered by his prime minister's resignation, palace officials said.

BRUSSELS, July 15, 2008 (AFP) - Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme's shock decision to hand in his resignation overnight Monday is a new twist in a political crisis that has simmered for more than a year.

At the heart of the crisis is a dispute over power-sharing between the kingdom's Flemish community and French-speakers in Wallonia.

BEIRUT, May 21, 2008 (AFP) - Key events in Lebanon since 2005, when the assassination of former billionaire prime minister Rafiq Hariri sparked a new crisis in the small Middle Eastern nation:

- February 14, 2005: Hariri is killed in a massive bomb blast in Beirut. Pro-Western leaders blame neighbouring Syria, which had troops in Lebanon since the 1975-1990 civil war.

GENEVA, April 27, 2008 (AFP) - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was set Monday to lead a concerted effort by 27 key UN agencies to tackle the growing crisis caused by a worldwide sharp rise in basic foodstuff prices.

PARIS, April 26, 2008 (AFP) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Saturday backed calls for the international community to create a food fund to tackle the crisis caused by sharp global price rises.

BEIJING, April 10, 2008 (AFP) - International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge said here Thursday that the Olympics would rebound from a 'crisis', after days of protests surrounding the torch relay.

BUDAPEST, April 1, 2008 (AFP) - Hungary's Liberal party Tuesday said it will quit the coalition government of Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany on April 30 after he sacked a party member who served as the health minister.

TYRE, Lebanon, March 12, 2008 (AFP) - Hezbollah's recent threat of open war on Israel and Lebanon's seemingly endless political crisis have many jittery Lebanese getting their passports ready to flee the country or renting apartments in 'safe' regions.

KHARTOUM, Feb 14, 2008 (AFP) - Sudan's Olympic Committee expressed regret on Thursday after Hollywood blockbuster director Steven Spielberg pulled out as adviser to the Beijing Olympics over China's record in Darfur.

'We have always been against politics creeping into sport and we have never mixed the two,' committee head and retired general Salah Mohammed Saleh told AFP.

BEIJING, Feb 14, 2008 (AFP) - China expressed regret Thursday over US film-maker Steven Spielberg's decision to cut ties with the Beijing Olympics, saying it was unacceptable to link politics to the sporting extravaganza.

BEIJING, Feb 14, 2008 (AFP) - China expressed regret Thursday over US film-maker Steven Spielberg's decision to sever his ties with the Olympic Games because of the violence in Darfur.

'We feel regret about his remarks,' foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said, two days after Spielberg quit his post as artistic advisor to the Games' opening and closing ceremonies.

BEIJING, Feb 14, 2008 (AFP) - China was facing a major international crisis linked to the Olympics Thursday amid mounting pressure over its role in Darfur after US filmmaker Steven Spielberg severed his links to the Games.

TREVISO, Italy, Jan 26, 2008 (AFP) - The crisis which has pitted the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the organisers of the headline grabbing events such as the Tour de France edged towards a solution on Saturday.

VISAKHAPATNAM, India, Jan 10, 2008 (AFP) - Indian agriculture is heading for a crisis as food output stagnates and millions of poor farmers struggle with high debt and crop failures, the nation's foremost farm scientist has warned.

BRUSSELS, Dec 21, 2007 (AFP) - Timeline of major dates in the Belgian government crisis -- the failure to agree a government since an election on June 10:

-- June 10: The Flemish Christian Democrat CDV party and their allies, the New Flemish Alliance (NVA) come out ahead in legislative elections, securing 30 of the 150 parliamentary seats.