Category: Other
‘s homing trick stuns scientists
PARIS, March 19, 2014 (AFP) – The Burmese python has a built-in compass that allows it to slither home in a near-straight line even if released dozens of kilometres away, researchers said Wednesday.Capable of growing over five metres (16 feet) long, pythons are among the world’s largest snakes.Although native to South and Southeast Asia, the […]
‘s Watawala Plantations ends management deal
Mar 18, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Watawala Plantations Plc said a management agreement with Estate Management Services (Pvt) Ltd, its key shareholder has been ended.In Sri Lanka’s commercial tea plantations date back from the British colonial era where third party ‘agency houses’ used to charge management fees on an arm’s length basis. The firm […]
Digital Commerce
Feb 18, 2014 (LBO) – Every day we are moving closer to having almost as many mobile subscribers as there are people on earth. Close to 40 percent of the world’s population arenow ˜online’ and some 750 million households globally are connected to the internet. New devices and platforms such as smartphones are constantly shaping; […]
Toyota suspends Indian auto production amid labour unrest
TOKYO, March 17, 2014 (AFP) – Toyota said Monday it has suspended production at its two Indian auto assembly plants in response to threats against management and “deliberate” assembly-line stoppages, as efforts to hammer out a labour deal failed.A Tokyo-based company spokesman said Toyota hoped to restart production quickly, but could not give a timeline […]
India suspends search for plane, awaits new instructions
NEW DELHI, March 16, 2014 (AFP) – India on Sunday suspended its search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 around the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands and in the Bay of Bengal and is awaiting a new request from Malaysia, a defence official said.“The entire operation is on hold for now. We are awaiting fresh instructions […]
US ship, plane to search Bay of Bengal for missing jet
WASHINGTON, March 14, 2014 (AFP) – A US naval ship and surveillance plane are heading to the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal to search for a missing Malaysian airliner that vanished a week ago, officials said Friday.The hunt had initially focused on the South China Sea east of Malaysia — along the intended route […]
Gallow Fright
COLOMBO, March 11, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s new executioner panicked after seeing the country’s main gallows for the first time and has since gone AWOL leaving the authorities hanging, the top prison official said Tuesday.“But, with this chap leaving, we are now in a quandary,” Pallegama said. “In case the government resumes hanging, we […]
Sri Lanka capital to get wetland and beach parks
Mar 11, 2014 (LBO) – Wetland’s in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo will be preserved and a educational wetland park is also being built, under a World Bank funded program to improve the city, an official said.Seneviratne also said the two ‘beach parks’ will be set up in the north and south Colombo. Rohan Seneviratne additional […]
One worker killed in Indian nuclear submarine accident
NEW DELHI, March 9, 2014 (AFP) – One Indian worker was killed in an accident during construction of a nuclear submarine, a defence statement said Sunday, the latest in a string of deadly mishaps to hit the navy.Two other workers were injured in the accident on Saturday at a ship building centre in the southeastern […]
Grave Affair
COLOMBO, March 8, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lankan authorities halted excavations after recovering 81 skeletal remains from an unmarked mass grave atop an old burial ground in the island’s former war zone, an official said Saturday.Judicial medical officer Dhananjaya Waidyaratne said digging at a depth of about two metres (6.7 feet) led to the old […]
E-cigarette use linked to higher smoking odds
WASHINGTON, March 6, 2014 (AFP) – E-cigarette use among US youths doubled in just one year, and those who tried the unregulated devices were more likely to smoke conventional cigarettes as well, a study said Thursday. Commonly sold at convenience stores and gas stations, e-cigarettes are battery powered gadgets that deliver nicotine through a vapor […]
‘s farmland returns to the wild
CAMPANARIOS DE AZABA, March 6, 2014 (AFP) – In an oak wood spanning the border of Spain and Portugal, an ancient sight unfolds: wild horses, not saddled or shoed, but roaming free as they did centuries ago.Farming has declined in Spain, leaving the countryside deserted, conservationists say. Now the wild things are coming back: wolves, […]