Category: Other
Cricket Fakes
March 3, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police on Thursday detained 15 people and seized hundreds of fake items of 2011 cricket World Cup merchandise being sold in and around the capital Colombo. The Colombo Crimes Division raided shops in Colombo and the suburban Maharagama area, seizing T-shirts, caps and other memorabilia, following a complaint […]
‘s Right to Information Act
NEW DELHI, March 3, 2011 (AFP) – Soon after he exposed how bricks were bought for six times their value for roads that were never built in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Amarnath Pandey was shot near his home. The bullet, which he believes was fired by contractors who were benefiting from the […]
Fresh Charges
WASHINGTON, March 1, 2011 (AFP) – The US markets regulator charged former Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble director Rajat Gupta on Tuesday with insider trading in a high-profile hedge fund case. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the charges for “illegally tipping Galleon Management founder and hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam with inside information […]
‘s biggest car maker reports 15% sales rise
MUMBAI, March 1, 2011 (AFP) – India’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki reported on Tuesday a 15.5-percent rise in sales in February. Total sales rose to 111,645 cars in the month from 96,650 a year earlier, said Japanese-owned Maruti, which dominates the Indian market with a 45-percent share. Passenger and commercial vehicle sales have been […]
India to raise $9 bn in privatisations: minister
NEW DELHI, February 28, 2011 (AFP) – India’s government intends to raise 400 billion rupees ( billion) by part-privatising state-owned companies in the next fiscal year, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Monday. Part-privatisations of miner Manganese Ore Ltd and electricity transmission group Power Grid were also a success, but earlier issues by state-run iron-ore miner […]
‘ Donuts takes the plunge in India
NEW DELHI, February 24, 2011 (AFP) – US-based Dunkin’ Donuts, one of the world’s largest coffee and baked goods chains, is set to enter India after striking a franchise deal, the company’s Indian partner said Thursday. The announcement came barely a month after US rival Starbucks unveiled a similar partnership with the giant Indian conglomerate […]
Sri Lanka tea quality season hit by bad weather
Feb 25, 2011 (LBO) – Bad weather has disrupted the Sri Lankan tea industry’s ‘Western quality season’ when teas grown on the western slopes of the island’s central massif yield their best quality and fetch high prices, brokers said. The season, which is in the first quarter of the year “has been badly disrupted due […]
‘s PM concedes to new telecom scam probe
NEW DELHI, February 22, 2011 (AFP) – India’s premier on Tuesday bowed to opposition pressure to set up a cross-party probe into the government’s tainted 2008 sales of telecom licences which cost the country up to billion. Observers say the ruling Congress party’s woes have led to policy drift with important economic reform legislation put […]
Sri Lanka looks for working group to iron out fishery poaching
Feb 22, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is looking to begin talks through a joint working group with India to find a long term solution to fishery poaching in Sri Lanka’s northern waters, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said. “We want to re-activate the mechanism of an India and Sri Lanka joint working group to find a […]
Sri Lanka Balangoda Plantations profit, management fee up sharply
Feb 21, 2011 (LBO) – High commodity prices helped Sri Lanka’s Balangoda Plantations managed by the Stassen group turn a profit in the December 2010 quarter with management fees exceeding profits, its accounts showed. The firm made a December 2010 quarter net profit of 35 million rupees against a loss 105 million rupees the year […]
Americans warned to be alert during cricket World Cup
WASHINGTON, February 17, 2011 (AFP) – The United States on Thursday urged its citizens to be extra vigilant about terror risks if they are in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka during the cricket World Cup. “While the US government has no specific threat information regarding the Cricket World Cup, large, high-profile events of this nature […]
Study claims link between human activity and higher rainfall
PARIS, February 16, 2011 (AFP) – Global warming driven by human activity boosted the intensity of rain, snow and consequent flooding in the northern hemisphere over the last half of the 20th century, research released Wednesday has shown. Members of the public interested in lending computing power can find information at climateprediction.net, which is currently […]