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Era of cheap food over: ADB
SINGAPORE, April 22, 2008 (AFP) – The era of cheap food is over, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) official said Tuesday. Rajat Nag, the ADB’s managing director general, said a variety of factors have contributed to soaring food prices which, even if they ease, will not return to the lower levels which the world became […]
Mugabe trying to steal Zimbabwe election: Australia
SYDNEY, April 22, 2008 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is trying to steal last month’s election and the so-called recount of votes is a sham, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Tuesday.MDC secretary general Tendai Biti has charged that 10 MDC supporters have been killed and thousands forced to flee their homes following attacks […]
Bollywood piracy fighters take battle to US Congress
WASHINGTON, April 21, 2008 (AFP) – Campaigners against piracy in India’s money-spinning entertainment industry, which loses four billion dollars a year to counterfeiters, have taken their battle to the US Congress.“We are losing 90 percent of our home video market in the United States,” veteran Indian filmmaker Bobby Bedi told AFP at a Capitol Hill […]
Sri Lanka must improve human rights, ensure free poll, says US official
April 22, 2008 (LBO) – The United States has called on Sri Lanka to improve its human rights record and ensure forthcoming elections in the east are free and fair, the embassy said in a statement Tuesday. It quoted Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Don Camp as characterizing his meetings […]
Sri Lanka human rights record criticised by foreign experts
April 22, 2008 (AFP) – A team of international legal experts Tuesday stepped up their criticism of Sri Lanka, noting that repeated calls to improve its record on the issue had fallen on deaf ears. The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) said Colombo lacked the political will to investigate grave rights abuses. The […]
Sri Lanka relaxes rice price controls
April 22, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has lifted price controls on the rice wholesale trade, a top official said, ending a short-lived socialist experiment not seen in the country since the heavy money printing and control era of the 1970’s. Trade ministry secretary R M K Ratnayake said a decision had been made to […]
Sri Lanka trade deficit doubles, foreign reserves up
April 22, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s trade deficit doubled in the first two months of the year to 937 million dollars but the overall balance of payments was in surplus by 448 million dollars, the central bank said. In February exports grew 9.7 percent to 642.6 million dollars with tea exports rising 42. 1 […]
Sri Lanka Telecom dominate Colombo share trading
April 21, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares closed lower Monday but turnover soared to over 3.5 billion rupees on several crossings of Sri Lanka Telecom and trades in Hotel Services (Ceylon), which owns a city hotel, brokers said. The All Share Price Index fell 8.90 points (0.33 percent) to 2,662.93 while the more liquid […]
No Fixing
April 21, 2008 9LBO) A European Union directive to abolish shipping line ‘conferences’ or cartels by October should lead to more competition and enable shippers to get a better deal, Sri Lanka Shippers’ Council officials said. SLSC president Ananda Wijayasuriya said lines will in future not be able to fix prices but negotiate contracts of […]
Sri Lankan Airlines and Mihin to be jointly run: officials
April 21, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan Airlines and Mihin Air would be commercially run together after new chief executives take-over but the two airlines would remain as separate entities, officials said. But the government has so far not given him permission to leave the airline, he said. G T Jayaseelan, SriLankan’s former head of […]