US interest rate hiked

WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve, keeping a watchful eye on the impact of surging oil prices, raised a key interest rate by another quarter-point. The action pushed the federal funds rate up to 3.25 per cent. It marked the ninth increase in the interest that banks charge each other on overnight loans and left this benchmark rate at its highest level since August 2001. When the Fed started its credit tightening campaign a year ago, the funds rate had been at a 46-year low of one per cent. – AP

Former boss indicted

SEOUL: The founder of South Korea’s now-defunct Daewoo Group, Kim Woo-Choong, was indicted on Friday on charges of fraud and foreign currency violations in relation to the collapse of his massive business empire. Prosecutors alleged that Kim engaged in a scheme of fraudulent accounting to acquire bank loans and also masterminded illegal money transfers abroad. The indictment came 18 days after the 68-year-old former business mogul returned to South Korea following six years on the run abroad. — AFP

China tariff bill spiked

WASHINGTON: The US administration and Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan believe China is set to revalue its currency, two US senators said after agreeing to shelve an

anti-China tariffs bill for now. Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham, after a meeting with treasury secretary John Snow and Greenspan, agreed to put off a late-July vote on their tariffs bill after being assured that a revaluation is coming. China’s Central Bank, however, denied through a spokesman that it was set to announce a revaluation of

its currency. — AP