Category: Other
India car sales jump 23%
MUMBAI, March 9, 2011 (AFP) – Car sales in India jumped nearly 23 percent in February from a year earlier, industry data showed Wednesday, as customers snapped up new models in a booming auto market where loans are cheap. The Indian market, Asia’s third-largest, is projected to triple over the next decade to six million […]
Sri Lanka tea exporter presses for imports for blending
Mar 09, 2011 (LBO) – Finlays Colombo has urged Sri Lankan authorities to allow more tea imports for blending saying it could lose market share by not catering to growing consumer demand for multi-origin blended teas. Chairman Kumar Jayasuriya said the firm, part of the UK’s Swire group, has been lobbying along with other tea […]
Galleon Trial
NEW YORK, March 8, 2011 (AFP) – The trial of former hedge fund tycoon Raj Rajaratnam began Tuesday in New York with the painstaking selection of a jury in a case prosecutors see as an example of Wall Street corruption and greed. Sri Lankan-born Rajaratnam, 53, used insider information at his Galleon Group fund to […]
Threat Assessment
TORONTO, March 7, 2011 (AFP) – A Tamil asylum seeker accused of extremist links for living in a former rebel-controlled area of Sri Lanka is not a threat to Canada, a tribunal ruled Monday. “The man’s work for the LTTE — Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam designated as a terrorist organization by Canada — was […]
Bangladesh creates $700mn fund to prop up stocks
DHAKA, March 7, 2011 (AFP) – Bangladesh will create a $700 million mutual fund, the country’s biggest ever, in a bid to stabilise the highly volatile Dhaka stock exchange, the head of a state-owned investment bank said Monday. The plan is part of the government’s drive to restore calm to the market, after sharp falls […]
”
DHAKA, March 7, 2011 (AFP) – Bangladeshi Nobel laureate and micro-lending pioneer Muhammad Yunus claimed Monday his ousting from a high-profile bank job was a government power grab, as he awaited a court verdict on his dismissal. The 70-year-old — who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering the concept of small cash […]
Indian property boss resigns over telecom scandal
MUMBAI, March 7, 2011 (AFP) – The head of one of India’s top real-estate companies resigned on Monday after being arrested as part of a probe into a telecom graft scandal that is sending tremors through the corporate world. Shahid Balwa is in jail after being arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last […]
Bajaj Auto faces rough ride in India car market
MUMBAI, March 6, 2011 (AFP) – Abhijit is fiercely proud of his Kawasaki Bajaj motorbike and considers himself a company loyalist. “Motorbikes are the best for urban travel. They’re economical and easy to park,” the Mumbai sales executive in his 30s told AFP. But while Abhijit, who uses only one name, wants to upgrade to […]
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 […]