Sri Lanka rubber prices rebound

Mar 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan rubber prices have recovered after a temporary fall triggered by overseas demand and supply factors, and look set to stay strong on rising global tire demand, trade officials said. Natural rubber prices at the Colombo auctions hit record highs in February and then slumped sharply after increased supply […]

Galleon Case

NEW YORK, March 23, 2011 (AFP) – Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein on Wednesday testified at the biggest Wall Street insider trading trial in years about how a former director at the storied bank broke confidentiality rules. Blankfein said former Goldman director Rajat Gupta broke the firm’s internal regulations in 2008 by giving hedge fund […]

‘s fake pilots

NEW DELHI, March 24, 2011 (AFP) – India’s fake pilot scandal began unravelling when a female captain landed her packed airliner on the nose instead of the rear wheels as she touched down in the holiday hotspot of Goa. Parminder Kaur Gulati, flying for the fastest-growing airline in the booming Indian sector, IndiGo, was investigated […]

‘s wealthy for charity

NEW DELHI, March 24, 2011 (AFP) – Two of the world’s richest men, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, took their charity roadshow to New Delhi on Thursday where they hope to coax their Indian peers to part with some of their wealth. Buffett, 80, and Gates, 55, who are close personal friends, were to meet […]

Sri Lanka has space to increase tuna catch: IOTC chief

Mar 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka can increase its catch but within the framework of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) in which competing interests will have to make trade-offs, the head of the regional fisheries body said. Rondolph Payet, chairman of IOTC, said a proposal by the Seychelles on tuna quotas at the […]

Sri Lanka banana waste for value added products

Mar 19, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka, which has 53 varieties of banana, has got Indian expertise under a United Nations funded project to help farmers make money by using waste from banana plants, officials said. The UNDP supported pilot project will be launched in north-central Anuradhapura, southern Embilipitiya and northern Jaffna. The United Nations […]

Sri Lanka tuna meet hears call for Indian Ocean quotas

Mar 18, 2011 (LBO) – Industrial countries should reduce their fleets in the Indian Ocean, enabling coastal states to increase their catch but depleting stocks should not be over-exploited, the head of a regional fish management body meeting in Sri Lanka said. Rondolph Payet, chairman of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, said their meeting in […]

India set to hike rates again in anti-inflation battle

NEW DELHI, March 16, 2011 (AFP) – India is set to raise borrowing costs on Thursday for an eighth time in just over a year as it struggles to bring down an inflation rate that is the highest of any major Asian economy. “We maintain the bank will increase rates by 25 basis points,” said […]

Sri Lanka, India talks to end poaching issue

Mar 15, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to send a team of officials to India for talks on ending poaching by Indian fishermen in the island’s northern waters, fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said. “We hope to sign an agreement with India,” he told a news conference. “We are confident we can resolve this problem […]

Sri Lanka wards off tuna quota: minister

Mar 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has prevented efforts to restrict her tuna quota in the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said. Sri Lanka had revived its activity in the IOTC and was compliant with its rules and did not allow IUU (illegal, unreported, unregistered) fishing,” Senaratne said. Had the […]

Quick Trigger

March 13, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lankan immigration authorities detained a Pakistani journalist with the same name as the man who staged an abortive car bomb attack in New York’s Times Square last year, officials said Sunday. Faisal Shahzad, an Islamabad-based reporter, was allowed to enter the country to cover the World Cup after spending […]

Fear as Japan struggles with stricken nuke reactors

FUKUSHIMA, March 13, 2011 (AFP) – Japan battled a nuclear emergency Sunday in which the government said twin meltdowns may have taken place and that radiation had escaped from reactors at a quake-damaged atomic power plant. About 200,000 people have been evacuated from residential areas around the Fukushima No. 1 plant, 250 kilometres (120 miles) […]

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