Category: Other
”
ISLAMABAD, September 8, 2011 (AFP) – Pakistan and Iran on Thursday said a multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline between the two countries was pressing ahead on schedule despite US objections to the project. The two signed an export deal last year for Iran to supply natural gas to its eastern neighbour from 2014, with sales to reach […]
Sri Lanka tea seen threatened by climate change
Sept 09, 2011 (LBO) – Climate change brought about by global warming could threaten the famed quality of Sri Lanka’s tea, the island’s main agriculture export and its best known brand, a new report said. “Could this be the beginning of a shift in the global tea cultivation map? ” the brokers asked. “The impact […]
Sri Lanka tea prices recover
Sep 08, 2011 (LBO) – Prices of teas made by Sri Lankan plantation company estates rose this week although still below production cost as supply fell and demand improved with brokers saying the market seems to have bottomed out. There was good demand at the Colombo auctions with improved buying mainly from shippers to the […]
And the heavens showered Earth with gold
PARIS, September 7, 2011 (AFP) – Were it not for meteorites striking Earth some four billion years ago, humans would never have laid eyes on the gold that has raised and ruined civilisations, according to a study published Thursday. Two hundred million years earlier, during the violent throes of planetary formation, Earth was a mass […]
Ford building $1bn manufacturing complex in India
NEW DELHI, September 6, 2011 (AFP) – US auto giant Ford has started construction on a $1 billion manufacturing and engineering complex in India as it bets on the country to help drive global growth, a company statement said Tuesday. The Detroit firm still has a long way to go to make the region a […]
”
NEW DELHI, September 7, 2011 (AFP) – For advertising executive Govind Nair, working in India’s outsourcing industry for a California telecoms firm means burning the candle at both ends for his customers. “They try to be considerate. They know there’s a 12-and-a-half-hour time difference between India and San Francisco but we still end up getting […]
Sri Lanka UK researchers in bid to save rare loris
Sept 07, 2011 (LBO) – Researchers from Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom are devising ways to save a rare primate that is threatened with extinction from habitat loss, including a species that was ˜rediscovered’ two years ago. The University of Colombo, Open University of Sri Lanka and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is […]
India to introduce key land bill in parliament
NEW DELHI, September 6, 2011 (AFP) – India’s cabinet has cleared a new land acquisition bill to be introduced in parliament Wednesday, aimed at addressing the concerns of farmers whose land is purchased for industrial development. The bill, adopted by the cabinet late Monday, seeks to give farmers fairer prices for their land — a […]
Sri Lanka nut shortfall hits Renuka Agri profits
Sep 06, 2011 (LBO) – High coconut prices caused by a crop shortfall reduced profits at Renuka Agri Foods last year although exports increased. Net profit fell 20.5 percent to 144 million rupees in the year ended March 31, 2011 from 181 million rupees the year before with earnings per share falling to 36 cents […]
India patent case threatens cheap drug supply: MSF
NEW DELHI, September 5, 2011 (AFP) – Supply of cheap copycat drugs for the developing world could be blocked if Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis wins a challenge to India’s patent law, medical charity MSF said on Monday. “We couldn’t afford to treat them all without these generic drugs,” said Joanna Keenan, spokesman for the Geneva-based […]
‘t let Doha trade talks collapse: India
NEW DELHI, September 5, 2011 (AFP) – The struggling decade-old Doha Development Round of free-trade talks must not be allowed to collapse, India’s trade minister said on Monday. The call came as failure threatens the negotiations on expanding the global free trade system by cutting subsidies and barriers for farm produce and reducing import tariffs […]
Digital debate: Do birds have thumbs?
PARIS, September 4, 2011 (AFP) – It is the kind of question that keeps biologists up at night: from an evolutionary standpoint, is the innermost digit of a bird’s three-pronged wing more like a thumb or an index finger? A study published online Sunday by Nature says it’s a bit of both. The stemcells in […]