Category: Other
Sri Lanka tea exporters to pack in Iran
Dec 10, 2010 (LBO) – Iran, which restricts import of value-added teas, has offered to let Sri Lankan exporters pack and sell tea in the country under a preferential tariff quota scheme, the government said. Tea is Sri Lanka’s main export to Iran, the island’s sixth largest trading partner with total two-way trade between the […]
Sri Lanka tea prices, output at new highs
Dec 10, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production is expected to hit a new high this year, exceeding 320 million kilos despite recent shortfalls owing to bad weather, while prices are also at record levels, brokers said. The average tea price at the Colombo auctions up to end-November of 369.38 rupees a kilo was […]
Bangladesh announces power sector deregulation
DHAKA, December 9, 2010 (AFP) – Bangladesh has announced a sweeping deregulation scheme for its power sector in a bid to ease the country’s crippling electricity shortages, a senior government official said. Foreign investors will now be allowed to set up power plants without winning a government contract and to sell on the national grid, […]
Riot police in streets after Bangladesh stocks dive
DHAKA, December 8, 2010 (AFP) – Riot police took to the streets of the Bangladeshi capital on Wednesday to control thousands of angry investors protesting over a dramatic fall in shares on the national stock exchange. Protesters burnt office furniture in front of the Dhaka Stock Exchange building and brought traffic in the centre of […]
‘s 35-dollar computer
NEW DELHI, December 9, 2010 (AFP) – The Indian government won headlines around the world when it unveiled a prototype 35-dollar tablet computer in July, but questions are now growing over whether the project is just a pipe dream. “The One Laptop per Child Association in the US was difficult to comprehend and there was […]
Thai Crackdown
BANGKOK, December 8, 2010 (AFP) – Thai authorities said Wednesday they had arrested 45 migrants from Sri Lanka in the latest of a series of crackdowns in recent months. The Sri Lankans, who were rounded up at a crowded apartment in a Bangkok suburb, appear to be economic migrants hoping to travel to a third […]
Sri Lanka runs out of chicken as tourists flock to island
December 8, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is set to import chicken for the first time in over two decades as consumption zooms due to a tourist bonanza and rising incomes on the formerly war-ravaged island, a minister said Wednesday. Trade Minister Johnston Fernando said he had ordered the import of 2,500 tonnes of chicken […]
India to attend Nobel ceremony: report
NEW DELHI, December 7, 2010 (AFP) – India will attend Friday’s Nobel peace prize ceremony in Oslo for jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, the country’s national news agency said on Tuesday. The Press Trust of India (PTI) did not give details or say who will represent India at the ceremony. Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vishnu […]
‘s rural rupee inspires tech innovations
NEW DELHI, December 7, 2010 (AFP) – India’s hunger for new technology is as sharp in its countless small villages as in its shiny office towers or shopping malls — and businesses are waking up to an area of massive potential growth. Specific designs being aimed at Indian villagers include a mobile phone cash-transfer system, […]
Bangladesh says pirates steering ship towards Somalia
DHAKA, December 6, 2010 (AFP) – A Bangladeshi-flagged vessel hijacked by pirates in the Arabian Sea off the coast of India was heading towards the Somali coast on Monday, the head of Bangladesh’s shipping department said. Officials said Bangladesh’s shipping department had also contacted a British anti-piracy office in Dubai and a regional anti-piracy office […]
Asset Realization
Dec 05, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court which is hearing a case on liquidating assets of a failed financial firm has approved the sale of hotel to repay depositors, a media report said. Ceysands and Golden Key are in Sri Lanka’s Ceylinco group. Golden Key depositors are said to be owed between 13 […]
‘s workforce boom is a mixed blessing: experts
NEW DELHI, December 5, 2010 (AFP) – An explosion of working-age people in India could serve as an engine of economic growth — or bring social turmoil, experts say. Over the next two decades, India’s working-age population will increase by 240 million — four times the entire population of Britain — according to investment house […]