Sri Lanka tea exporter sees lifestyle trends expanding market

July 08, 2008 (LBO) – Changing consumer tastes and a willingness to pay a premium for a superior product should help tea producers, who until recent years had faced stagnant prices, a top Sri Lankan exporter says. Anslem Perera, managing director of Euro Scan, says tea producers and exporters were making use of traditional consumption […]

Sri Lanka rubber prices, cultivation rising: trade official

July 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan natural rubber prices will remain high on strong demand while cultivation and production is increasing, the chairman of the Colombo Rubber Traders’ Association Anura Edirisinghe said. Global natural rubber consumption will continue to outstrip supply through 2009, resulting in prices maintaining current high levels or increasing even above […]

Peace Building

July 07, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government should start English medium schools in the East of the island, because educators in the areas are clamouring them, a top official in charge of peace building efforts said.The Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) is encouraging communities in the Eastern Province to formulate their own […]

Virtual Slaves

JAKARTA, July 8, 2008 (AFP) – Saudi Arabian families are abusing female migrant workers to the point of slavery and Riyadh needs to respond with sweeping labour and justice reforms, a major rights group said Tuesday.US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report released in Indonesia, the home country of thousands of female […]

Matsushita Electric Works says it has developed eco-friendly lamp

TOKYO, July 8, 2008 (AFP) – Japan’s Matsushita Electric Works Ltd.said Tuesday it had developed a fluorescent lamp that does not use mercury or a gas-discharging process. The enviromentally friendly device, which uses processed silicon, could be 50 percent brighter than a conventional fluorescent lamp while consuming the same amount of electricity, the company said […]

” of recession: survey

LONDON, July 8, 2008 (AFP) – Britain’s economy, buckling under the credit crunch and a slowing property market, faces a “serious risk” of recession as firms face soaring costs and falling orders, according to a survey published Tuesday.The British Chambers of Commerce, which represents the country’s business interests around the world, made the claim in […]

South Korea props up won with dollar sales

EOUL, July 8, 2008 (AFP) – The South Korean won hit a two-week high Tuesday after foreign exchange authorities sold up to two billion dollars to prop it up, traders said.The currency was quoted at 1,031.60 per dollar as of 0500 GMT, compared to Monday’s close of 1,042.90. Earlier Tuesday it rallied as high as […]

‘s Gorkhas campaign for new state

DARJEELING, July 8, 2008 (AFP) – Leaders of the ethnic Nepali-speaking minority in India’s mountainous and tea-rich northeast have started month-long prayers to press for their own federal state.Ethnic Gorkhas — who number more than a million in the eastern state of West Bengal — have been demanding a separate state within India for decades, […]

Sri Lanka replace Zimbabwe with 2009 tour of England

LONDON, July 8, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will play two Tests and three one-day internationals in England next April and May, stepping into the fixture gap created by England’s decision to break off cricket relations with Zimbabwe.Dates for the tour were announced on Tuesday by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). David Collier, […]

Mystic Mendis is latest Sri Lankan mould-breaker

NEW DELHI, July 8, 2008 (AFP) – As if Muttiah Muralitharan was not enough, Sri Lanka now have another formidable spinner in Ajantha Mendis, whose unique style is also breaking new ground.Muralitharan, with a record 735 Test wickets, has long flummoxed batsmen with his “doosra” delivery that spins away from right-handers instead of coming in […]

Tired Dhoni opts out of Sri Lanka Tests

MUMBAI, July 8, 2008 (AFP) – India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni took the rare step of pulling out of a Test tour because of fatigue on Tuesday, saying he wanted to miss the upcoming series against Sri Lanka. The wicketkeeper-batsman told officials he was not available for the three Tests starting in Colombo on July 23, […]

Sri Lanka tea exports up to May at new high

July 07, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has earned half a billion dollars from tea exports in the first five months of the year, with volumes also hitting a new record of 129.4 million kilograms, brokers Asia Siyaka Commodities said. But tea bag exports fell from 8.5 million in the 2007 period to 7.6 million […]

Page 2328 of 3385