Category: Other
Asia lacks social benefits despite growth: ADB
SINGAPORE, August 23, 2011 (AFP) – Most Asian economies have not done enough to provide good jobs and adequate social benefits for their people, despite rapid economic growth over 20 years, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday. “Now is the time for us to think seriously about these kinds of issues because it’s going […]
Sri Lanka tea exporter calls for better labour relations
Aug 23, 2011 (LBO) – A top Sri Lankan tea exporter has suggested more cordial relations between plantations companies and labour unions could reduce “confrontational” approaches to wage negotiations. Fernando said that he believed the conflict with trade unions is largely due to lack of an ongoing dialogue between plantation owners and trade unions. “If […]
Arundhati Roy warns of ultra-nationalism in Hazare
NEW DELHI, August 22, 2011 (AFP) – Indian Booker prize-winning author Arundhati Roy launched a scathing attack Monday on the “aggressive nationalism” behind the anti-corruption drive led by hunger-striking campaigner Anna Hazare. In a column entitled “I’d rather not be Anna” published in The Hindu newspaper, the novelist, essayist and rights activist condemned both the […]
”’ PM damaged by arrest of activist
NEW DELHI, August 20, 2011 (AFP) – There is no small irony in the fact that India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, known for his probity and integrity, now finds himself fighting for political survival with an anti-corruption activist. When the Congress party won elections in 2004, its decision to name Singh as premier was partly […]
Foreign Killing
August 19, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s High Court Friday handed five Chinese nationals the death penalty for murdering a compatriot at a restaurant near the capital over eight years ago, a court official said. A Chinese woman and two Chinese men were in court Friday to hear the sentence while judges issued a warrant […]
Arrest
August 20, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police on Saturday arrested a top Buddhist monk on a charge of having sex with a 12-year-old girl in violation of strict child protection laws, police said. The 60-year-old monk was accused of abusing the child over a period of one year at his temple in the north-central […]
Indian government struggles with mass protests
NEW DELHI, August 17, 2011 (AFP) – India’s graft-tainted government faced a growing crisis on Thursday, with the country rocked by mass anti-corruption protests that have pitted the prime minister against a popular hunger striker. Rallies continued late into the night across India on Wednesday in support of veteran campaigner Anna Hazare, 74, who remained […]
” comes alive as new species
PARIS, August 16, 2011 (AFP) – A new species of eel found in the gloom of an undersea cave is a “living fossil” astonishingly similar to the first eels that swam some 200 million years ago, biologists reported on Wednesday. The discovery was made in March last year by a team led by Masaki Miya […]
India July inflation eases to 9.22 percent
NEW DELHI, August 16, 2011 (AFP) – India’s annual inflation edged lower to 9. 22 percent in July, official data showed Tuesday, still far above the comfort level of the country’s central bank, which has been raising rates aggressively. Growing fears about the stuttering global economy have fuelled speculation among economists that the bank may […]
Fraud Network
SYDNEY, August 15, 2011 (AFP) – Five men from Malaysia and Sri Lanka were charged Monday with being members of an international fraud syndicate responsible for attacks on bank card systems across Australia. During raids, police seized items including machines for processing bank payments, laptop computers, numerous mobile phones, cash, false travel documents and a […]
Sri Lanka Horana Plantations lose Rs13mn in June Q
Aug 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Horana Plantations, a unit of the Ceylon Theatres group said it lost 13. 3 million rupees in the June 2011 quarter despite higher revenues after a wage hike. The firm, which mainly grows tea said revenues rose 12. 9 percent to 492 million rupees and costs also rose […]
Indian PM warns on graft on Independence Day
NEW DELHI, August 15, 2011 (AFP) – India’s embattled premier Monday used his Independence Day address from Delhi’s rain-drenched Red Fort to insist the government was taking “the strictest possible action” against corruption. Manmohan Singh, speaking from a bullet-proof enclosure in torrential monsoon rains, also said that inflation running at nearly 10 percent was a […]