Category: Other
Rape Crisis
BANGKOK, September 10, 2013 (AFP) – Nearly a quarter of men surveyed in six Asia-Pacific countries admit to committing rape, often against their own partners, according to a UN report published Tuesday that exposes widespread violence against women.Based on anonymous interviews with more than 10,000 men aged between 18 and 49-years-old in Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, […]
Sri Lanka rubber exporter hit by falling prices
Sep 09, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Eastern Merchants, a rubber export firm said it lost 17 million rupees in the year to March 2013, from a profit of 105 million rupees a year earlier as world rubber prices dropped.Car sales in India had plunged 20 percent and listed Indian tyre companies had also performed […]
Nasheed faces tricky run-off in Maldives election
MALÉ, September 8, 2013 (AFP) – The ex-leader of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, faced disappointment Sunday after failing to secure a majority in presidential polls he hoped would seal his return to power 18 months after he was toppled.Nasheed now faces a tricky run-off election on September 28 after he won the first round of […]
New India central bank chief may face short honeymoon
NEW DELHI, September 8, 2013 (AFP) – The euphoria which greeted new central bank governor Raghuram Rajan has been unprecedented in India’s normally sober financial world but the honeymoon may be shortlived.In fact, Rajan’s comments suggest he is likely to be “more hawkish”, said CLSA economist Rajeev Malik said. The former top finance ministry advisor […]
Arrested
COLOMBO, September 7, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police have arrested a navy officer suspected of involvement in smuggling people in fishing boats to Australia, officials said Saturday. Australia announced tough new measures in mid-July to discourage illegal boatpeople. Since then, local police have apprehended three boats and detained 300 Sri Lankans, including 56 women […]
Sri Lanka offered hi-tec dairy farm by Dutch firm
Sept 06, 2013 (LBO) – A Netherlands based company has offered to set up a hi-tec dairy farm with processing facilities with high yield milch cows, provided suitable land with fresh water is made available, officials said. Velema Holdings, a Netherland based investment firm, is offering to put together a turnkey dairy facility if about […]
” violence
MALE, September 5, 2013 (AFP) – The Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives goes to the polls this weekend for a presidential election that will test its young democracy 18 months after a violent change in leadership. Its more than 1,000 islands sit aside the world’s most important east-west shipping channel and its strategic location […]
‘s plans
MUMBAI, September 5, 2013 (AFP) – India’s rupee strengthened and stocks jumped Thursday after new central bank governor Raghuram Rajan outlined a reform plan aimed at boosting investor confidence and stabilising the ailing currency.The rupee climbed to 65.75 against the dollar, gaining nearly two percent from its previous close, on investor hopes the worst could […]
”s love of gold
KATHMANDU, September 4, 2013 (AFP) – After a long drive from across the border in China, the white truck arrived in Nepal’s capital at dawn with a seemingly innocuous cargo of Chinese-made clothes. But hidden in a cylinder inside the vehicle’s front bumper was the latest haul of gold smuggled from Tibet — bars weighing […]
‘s central bank amid storm
MUMBAI, September 4, 2013 (AFP) – Top economist Raghuram Rajan, renowned for predicting the 2008 global financial crisis, took over as India’s central bank chief on Wednesday as the country faces its worst financial storm in years. Rajan, a former IMF chief economist, replaced Duvvuri Subbarao as governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), […]
‘s rupee falls sharply, shares slump almost 3.5-pct
MUMBAI, September 3, 2013 (AFP) – India’s currency fell sharply Tuesday and stocks tumbled nearly 3.5 percent in another major sell-off caused by uncertainty in the Middle East and a new gloomy economic forecast by Goldman Sachs. On Monday, an HSBC survey showed that India’s manufacturing shrank in August for the first time in over […]
Bollywood cuts costs as rupee crisis bites: study
MUMBAI, September 2, 2013 (AFP) – Bollywood producers have long been fond of filming in exotic foreign locations, but the spiralling Indian currency has seen spending on movie sets abroad drop by one third, according to a study released Monday.The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) says that the amount spent on […]