Category: Other
Indian rupee tumbles to new record low
MUMBAI, July 8, 2013 (AFP) – India’s rupee slid to a new record low against the dollar Monday as the greenback was boosted by stronger than expected US jobs numbers. The rupee has fallen nearly 12 percent against the dollar this year, making it the worst performing currency among major Asian economies. The Reserve Bank […]
India market regulator seeks to halt rupee slide
NEW DELHI, July 9, 2013 (AFP) – India’s financial markets regulator on Tuesday sought to halt the slide of the rupee by restricting speculative trading in the currency — a day after the unit hit a new lifetime low against the dollar.The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said it was taking the action […]
Sri Lanka tea crop hit by heavy rains
July 09, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea crop has been hit badly by heavy rain in June with some estates seeing production falling to less than half and losses in some firms mounting to 100 million rupees, an industry association said.The Ceylon Planters’ Association of Ceylon, representing about two dozen large firms said due […]
Sri Lanka grows rubber in new areas
July 09, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has expanded rubber cultivation into the non-traditional dryer regions of the island™s Eastern and Northern regions with the crop showing high yields in several pilot projects, a senior official said. “We have introduced rubber into the Eastern and Northern region,” Gamini Seneviratne, director, Rubber Research Institute of Sri […]
Maldives president pledges to work with Islamists
COLOMBO, July 7, 2013 (AFP) – Maldivian President Mohamed Waheed pledged Sunday to work with the main Islamic party ahead of upcoming elections, and rejected opposition fears it would lead to increased radicalisation in the luxury tourist destination.Waheed described most Adhaalath members as moderate, while some had “extreme views”. “I don’t worry too much about […]
India police make arrest, study CCTV over temple bombs
PATNA, July 8, 2013 (AFP) – Indian police arrested a man on Monday over the weekend attacks at the historic Bodh Gaya Buddhist temple complex and were studying CCTV footage that appeared to show two men planting explosives at the site.The Bodh Gaya complex also houses multiple shrines marking the places where the Buddha is […]
‘s holiest sites: India police
PATNA, July 7, 2013 (AFP) – Indian police reported multiple low-intensity blasts at the Bodh Gaya Buddhist temple complex on Sunday, saying two people had been wounded but the temple was safe.It houses the holy bodhi tree as well as the giant Mahabodhi statue of Buddha, and multiple shrines marking the places where he is […]
Police Probe
July 5, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s police arrested 12 commandos in connection with the execution-style killing of five students during the island’s Tamil separatist war, an official said Friday.An inspector and 11 constables from the elite Police Special Task Force (STF) were taken before a magistrate in the port town of Trincomalee on Thursday, […]
Gulls feasting on whales? In Argentina, yes
ALDES PENINSULA, July 6, 2013 (AFP) – It’s a weird, lopsided fight if ever there was one: seagulls divebombing to attack and feed on the fat of 50-ton whales and their babies.And the birds are winning. The battle, new in recent years, is playing out in the South Atlantic off the coast of Argentina’s Patagonia […]
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NEW DELHI, 2013 (AFP) – India’s state-run banks will open 10,000 branches this year as part of a drive to extend formal financial services to the estimated 40 percent of the country without them, a minister said Wednesday.Spreading banking services is a key part of the government’s new cash transfer programme, that sees welfare beneficiaries […]
Sri Lanka state dairy firm financed by HSBC
July 04, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Milco (Pvt) Ltd, a dairy products firm, is modernizing it factories with a 5.5 billion rupee credit structured by UK’s HSBC banking group, a finance ministry report showed. Milco markets and sells ‘Highland’ branded milk powder, liquid milk, ice cream and cheese. HSBC has previously helped channel […]
Magazine Block
July 2, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has banned the July 1 issue of Time magazine because its cover story on Myanmar’s Buddhist-Muslim clashes could hurt religious sentiment on the island, an official said Tuesday.Customs department spokesman Leslie Gamini said the issue carrying a photo of a prominent Myanmar monk under the headline: “The Face […]