Category: Other
US cutting back troops in Pakistan amid tensions
WASHINGTON, May 26, 2011 (AFP) – The US military said Wednesday it has begun pulling some American troops out of Pakistan after Islamabad requested a smaller presence, amid tensions over a US raid against Osama bin Laden. The Pakistani government had asked for a scaling back of the US contingent of more than 200 troops […]
Sri Lanka among elephant countries in action group
NEW DELHI, May 24, 2011 (AFP) – Eight countries with the largest number of elephants met for the first on Tuesday in New Delhi to plot new strategies to protect the animal. “Delegates here represent two-thirds of the world’s wild elephant population,” Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told the inaugural gathering of the Elephant-8 group. […]
Sri Lanka tea production on the rise
May 24, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea production is increasing despite a downturn in April compared with a year ago with annual output expected to hit a new high. Tea production fell 5.6 percent to 28.5 million kilos in April from a year ago when output had been boosted by favourable weather and high […]
Sri Lanka Watawala tea net up 50-pct in year to March
May 24, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s listed Watawala Plantations said profits rose 49. 6 percent to 642 million rupees in the year to March 2011 with revenues growing 9.0 percent amid higher commodity prices and profits from its retail unit. Managing director Vish Govindasamy said higher rubber prices pushed profits from the division to […]
Militants storm Pakistan naval air base, five dead
KARACHI, May 23, 2011 (AFP) – Taliban gunmen armed with rockets and explosives stormed a major naval air base in the heart of Pakistan’s biggest city, destroying two US-made surveillance aircraft and killing five personnel. Officials said the brazen attack in Karachi, which came three weeks after the US killing of Osama bin Laden, was […]
” UK staff
NEW DELHI, May 22, 2011 (AFP) – Indian tycoon Ratan Tata has denied calling his British staff lazy after a London newspaper quoted him attacking them for heading home early on Friday afternoons. The Tata Group issued a statement after the Times published an interview in which he described how “nobody is willing to go […]
Boot Camp
May 21, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has suspended a government plan to make military training compulsory for students who qualify for university education, an official said Saturday. The top court late Friday ordered the education ministry to delay implementation of the training programme until a ruling is made on a legal challenge […]
US security chief to visit India for talks
WASHINGTON, May 19, 2011 (AFP) – The US Homeland Security secretary, Janet Napolitano, will make a four-day visit to India beginning May 24, her office announced Thursday. Napolitano and Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, the country’s domestic security chief, will launch the US-India Homeland Security dialogue, which the Department says will increase communication about terrorism […]
‘s IMF director hits method for naming chief
WASHINGTON, May 19, 2011 (AFP) – India’s IMF director on Thursday said the institution needs to revamp how it chooses it managing director, after decades of as “consensus” that let Europeans monopolize the top position. Hours after the resignation of International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of France to fight sexual assault charges in New […]
‘s 31-year-old king to marry
NEW DELHI, May 20, 2011 (AFP) – The 31-year-old king of Bhutan, an Oxford-educated bachelor crowned in the remote Himalayan country in 2008, set up another royal wedding on Friday by announcing his engagement. Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck revealed his intention at the opening session of parliament, a secretary from the ministry of information, Dasho […]
Sri Lanka mulls global action against Ceylon tea counterfeits
May 20, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Tea Board aims to hire an international agency for global surveillance of the island’s Ceylon tea brand under the ‘Lion’ logo to prevent its misuse and sale of counterfeits, an official said. The planned action comes in the wake of the island launching new logos for Ceylon tea […]
Sri Lanka gets US aid for flood victims
May 19, 2011 (LBO) – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is giving a 1. 5 million grant under its Food for Peace (FFP) programme to help more than 22,000 flood victims in eastern Sri Lanka. Under the programme the US development agency will assist flood victims by paying them to repair small-scale […]