Category: Other
13 dead as rains lash Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, June 2, 2014 (AFP) – Unusually heavy monsoon rains have flooded Sri Lanka’s capital and neighbouring districts where mudslides killed at least 13 people, officials said Monday. The island’s western and southern regions experienced heavy rains with more than 100 millimetres (four inches) dumped within about one hour on Sunday, an official at the […]
Celebrations as India gets new state of Telangana
HYDERABAD, June 2, 2014 (AFP) – Celebrations erupted in southern India to mark the creation of the new state of Telangana on Monday at the culmination of a separatist campaign stretching back nearly six decades. Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao, who at one stage went on hunger strike as part of the push to create what is […]
Sri Lanka arrests Indian fishermen after Modi talks
COLOMBO, June 1, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy said Sunday it had seized 29 Indian fishermen, the first arrests since President Mahinda Rajapakse and India’s new premier held talks on resolving the thorny issue of poaching. The navy arrested the Indians along with six trawlers off the island’s northwest coast on Sunday, a navy […]
‘s Noorani Estates plans expansion, possible listing
May 30, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Noorani Estates (Pvt) Ltd, a poultry firm that operates under the brand Nelfarms is planning to invest over one billion rupees over three years to expand, with a possible stock exchange listing also on the cards, a top official said.“We are very bullish about the industry,” Noordeen Sethwala, […]
Deport Debate
KUALA LUMPUR, May 28, 2014 (AFP) – The United Nations refugee agency and Human Rights Watch on Wednesday decried Malaysia’s deportation of two Sri Lankan refugees and an asylum-seeker accused of being Tamil Tiger separatists.“Malaysia’s forced return of these refugees to Sri Lanka is no free pass for torture and mistreatment,” Phil Robertson, the rights […]
Pakistan India relations take surprising warmer turn with Modi
NEW DELHI, May 26, 2014 (AFP) – India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to hold landmark talks with his Pakistani counterpart and announce his new cabinet Tuesday as he looked to hit the ground running on his first day in office. The morning after Modi and his slimmed-down team of ministers were sworn in, […]
UN rights office condemns Maldives death penalty revival
GENEVA, April 29, 2014 (AFP) – The UN human rights office on Tuesday voiced concern over moves to revive the death penalty in the Maldives, including for minors, after a six-decade freeze on capital punishment in the Indian Ocean archipelago.“We are deeply concerned about a new regulation adopted in the Maldives on implementation of the […]
Shifting Focus
WELLINGTON, May 27, 2014 (AFP) – People-smugglers are looking to target New Zealand now that Australia’s tough border protection policies have effectively “closed down” that country to asylum-seeker boats, Prime Minister John Key said Tuesday.While the voyage to New Zealand from places such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka is potentially far more perilous than trying […]
India PM-elect Modi to keep defence, slashes full-rank cabinet to 23: reports
NEW DELHI, May 26, 2014 (AFP) – India’s premier-elect Narendra Modi plans to slash 26 government positions and name himself as defence minister under a cabinet revamp set to be unveiled later Monday, reports said.Modi’s cabinet will number 45 including him, down from 71 in outgoing prime minister Manmohan Singh’s scandal-tainted Congress-led coalition administration, the […]
Football: Afghan players injured in Maldives bus crash
COLOMBO, May 24, 2014 (AFP) – Five players and two officials of the Afghan national team were injured in a road accident in the Maldives Saturday after an AFC Challenge Cup match, a report said.Afghan skipper Haroon Fakhrudin was among those hurt when the team bus crashed into a motorcycle while returning to a hotel […]
Label Rules
May 25, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Tobacco Company Plc, a unit of British American Tobacco said it had gone to Supreme Court again over new labeling regulations, shortly after a court ruling that allowed graphical warnings.The recent court ruling allowed graphic labels covering 50 to 60 percent of the area of a pack […]
Arrested
KUALA LUMPUR, May 25, 2014 (AFP) – Three men suspected of being Tamil Tigers have been arrested in Malaysia, a top police official said Sunday, accusing them of attempting to revive the Sri Lankan separatist group. Khalid Abu Bakar, inspector-general of police, said the trio, who had been in Malaysia since 2004, were arrested in […]