Category: Other
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
Bollywood marketing goes mobile
MUMBAI, May 18, 2011 (AFP) – Times have changed in Bollywood from the days when all that was required to promote a film was a giant, hand-painted poster, a television or cinema trailer and the pulling power of a star actor. Now, the popular Hindi-language film industry is harnessing the latest technology, hoping that the […]
‘s rich flaunt wealth
NEW DELHI, May 17, 2011 (AFP) – In booming India, being rich is not enough. For the moneyed classes, it’s increasingly about flaunting their wealth in ways typical of the nouveaux riches in Russia, China or the Middle East. India’s well-heeled used to be more shy about displaying their wealth in the decades after independence […]
Sri Lanka Kelani Valley March net up 120-pct on high rubber prices
May 16, 2011 (LBO) – High rubber prices have helped Sri Lanka’s Kelani Valley Plantations increase March 2011 quarter net profit by 120 percent to 246 million rupees from a year ago. Earnings per share for the March 2011 quarter were 7. 24 rupees compared with 3.29 rupees the previous year. Sales of the firm, […]
‘s high and mighty
NEW DELHI, May 16, 2011 (AFP) – India’s notorious Tihar Jail in New Delhi is currently home to a clutch of VIP inmates suspected of corruption as police win rare permission to go after the “big fish” in recent cases. The forbidding complex, home to militants and murderers, offers little in terms of comfort for […]
India hikes petrol price to offset crude costs
NEW DELHI, May 14, 2011 (AFP) – India’s state-owned fuel firms on Saturday hiked petrol prices by nearly nine percent to help stem revenue losses from a rise crude prices, a record rise that will fuel stubbornly high inflation. The increase marked the eighth rise in petrol prices since India’s government last June deregulated petrol […]
Australia to send newest asylum seekers offshore
SYDNEY, May 14, 2011 (AFP) – The latest boatload of suspected asylum seekers to arrive in Australia will be sent to another country for processing, the government said Saturday as it implements its controversial new policy. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen would not say where the 32 newest arrivals who landed in Australian waters late Friday […]