Category: Other
Rate rises and graft scandals threaten India growth
NEW DELHI, February 13, 2011 (AFP) – India is set for scorching growth this year but concern is mounting about its longer-term outlook, with the central bank seen hiking interest rates further and corruption scandals worrying investors. The stock market has already dropped some 17 percent this year, hit by fears that economic growth will […]
” that looks back to the future
BANGALORE, February 12, 2011 (AFP) – It would be the ultimate answer to the daily horror of gridlock on the traffic-choked, exhaust-filled roads of Indian cities. Unassumingly parked next to some of the world’s most lethal warplanes, a converted 800cc Maruti hatchback has stolen some of the thunder from the supersonic exhibits at the Aero […]
Sri Lanka rubber producer warns boom unlikely to last
Feb 11, 2011 (LBO) – The boom in rubber prices, that helped prop up profits at Sri Lanka’s Kelani Valley Plantations, is unlikely to last, its chairman Mohan Pandithage has warned, according to a stock exchange filing. The company, the plantation subsidiary of Dipped Products, the rubber manufacturing arm of the Hayleys group, said December […]
Sri Lanka whale film planned
Feb 11, 2011 (LBO) – Award winning author Phillip Hoare and underwater videographer Andrew Sutton is working on a film featuring whales in the waters surrounding Sri Lanka and also explore the Island nation, its people and culture. “We are very keen to expand the themes we have been exploring while filming whales into a […]
Global aviation giants fly to India airshow
BANGALORE, February 9, 2011 (AFP) – Global aeronautical companies laid out their stalls Wednesday in one of the world’s hottest aviation markets, looking for a share of billions of dollars in Indian military and civilian contracts. “Owing to the ongoing modernisation plans of its armed forces, India has become the focal point of global defence […]
Court Day
BERLIN, February 7, 2011 (AFP) – German federal prosecutors said Monday they had charged a man suspected of raising money for the separatist Sri Lankan rebel group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The accused, a 35-year-old German citizen named only as Agilan W., was charged with belonging to a foreign terrorist organisation, prosecutors said […]
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SINGAPORE, February 6, 2011 (AFP) – Asia must prepare for millions of people to flee their homes to safer havens within countries and across borders as weather patterns become more extreme, the Asian Development Bank warns. A draft of an ADB report obtained by AFP over the weekend and confirmed by bank officials cautioned that […]
Bangladesh World Cup war on old cars
DHAKA, February 3, 2011 (AFP) – Bangladesh ordered owners of old cars to spruce up their vehicles ahead of the cricket World Cup Thursday, warning that they will be targeted by mobile courts, an official said. Old and worn-out cars and buses in Dhaka and the southeastern city of Chittagong must “get fit, smarter and […]
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Feb 03, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka earned a record 1. 37 billion US dollars in tea exports in 2010, exceeding that of Kenya, which exported more, owing to higher prices and more valued added shipments, brokers said. The island’s tea export earnings from exporting 314 million kilos were 16 percent more than in 2009. […]
Arson Protest
February 1, 2011 (AFP) – Dozens of Sri Lankan journalists took to the capital’s streets Tuesday to condemn an arson attack on an independent website that was blamed by its editor on the government. Reporters, photographers and employees of privately-run media joined a demonstration in central Colombo a day after the arson attack on the […]
‘s Bharti reports dive in profit, hit by Africa costs
NEW DELHI, February 2, 2011 (AFP) – India’s top mobile phone firm Bharti said on Wednesday quarterly net profit slid 41 percent, hit by costs from its new Africa business and foreign exchange losses, but was upbeat on its future. But Bharti began last month rolling out its ultra-fast third-generation (3G) telecom services which analysts […]
Sri Lanka whale watching boats warned to be careful
Feb 02, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s growing whale watching boats will have to develop and follow good practices so that whales will not be disturbed and scared away and the safety of passengers is also assured, a biologist has said. Sometimes boats converged on whales and there was danger of whales being chased. Sri […]