Category: Other
Sri Lanka coconut farmers to get subsidies amid high prices
Dec 28, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s coconut farmers, who are now perhaps getting the highest prices in the world due to agriculture protection, are to get tax payer support in the form of a fertilizer subsidy, the government has said. Earlier in the year Sri Lanka’s desiccated coconut producers proposed a periodically adjusted tax […]
India launches sharia stock index for Muslims
MUMBAI, December 27, 2010 (AFP) – India’s Bombay Stock Exchange launched a share index of sharia-compliant companies on Monday in an attempt to open stock-trading to more Muslims. The BSE TASIS Sharia 50 consists of the largest and most liquid sharia-compliant stocks within the BSE 500 index. All the companies have been vetted to ensure […]
Sri Lanka fish prices seen falling when weather improves
Dec 27, 2010 (LBO) – Fish prices in Sri Lanka should come down when the weather improves and Catholic fishermen put out to sea with the end of Christmas celebrations, the fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said. Increased sales by the state-owned Ceylon Fisheries Corporation had already brought fish prices down by about 22 percent on […]
‘ warm words
NEW DELHI, December 26, 2010 (AFP) – The theme of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to India was “friends not rivals,” but a border dispute remains a source of tension and, analysts warn, potential conflict between the Asian giants. The joint communique that concluded Wen’s recent visit barely mentioned the long-standing border issue, as both […]
‘s cheapest car
NEW DELHI, December 26, 2010 (AFP) – India’s launch of the world’s cheapest car, the Nano, was expected to create a vast new market segment in the nation of 1.2 billion people, but reality has fallen short of expectations. “The really good thing for Tata is that those people who have the car are happy […]
‘s city-dwellers get angrier as society changes
MUMBAI, December 26, 2010 (AFP) – With its religious retreats for meditation and yoga, India has long been sought out by Western visitors eager to escape the rat race and return home better prepared to face life’s challenges. Big cities like New Delhi and Mumbai, however, are becoming anything but havens of spiritual calm and […]
Onions, coconuts and the politics of taste in S.Asia
NEW DELHI, December 24, 2010 (AFP) – Food and politics have always been closely intertwined in the developing countries of South Asia, but when national taste buds are at stake the relationship can become especially volatile. A shortage of onions in India, a dearth of coconuts in Sri Lanka and the soaring price of cooking […]
Missing Syndrome
GENEVA, December 23, 2010 (AFP) – An international accord aimed at preventing abductions — a fate affecting tens of thousands of people throughout the world — came into force Thursday, the United Nations said. “In Latin America, where a number of countries are parties to the convention, thousands of families still await information on the […]
Sri Lanka tea prices end year on high note
Dec 23, 2010 (LBO) – Prices of Sri Lanka’s low grown teas, which make up 60 percent of production, rose at the last auction for the year this week with average prices also higher than last year, brokers said. “There was better demand at this week’s auction for low grown teas and prices gained selectively […]
India scraps onion tax as prices soar
NEW DELHI, December 22, 2010 (AFP) – The Indian government, facing mounting public anger over soaring onion costs, on Wednesday scrapped tax on imports of the vegetable to try to rein in prices of the ingredient. The government has been feeling the heat over inflation as the opposition BJP has seized on the issue to […]
Foreign firms look to increase solar power presence in India
MORABANDAR, December 22, 2010 (AFP) – The Elephanta Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site off the coast of India’s financial capital Mumbai, draw hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. Local people could sell back surplus energy to the grid, he added, while the government should provide subsidies, as it does to the coal industry […]
Sri Lanka registers Ceylon tea intellectual property claim
Dec 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has registered a claim locally for intellectual property protection for Ceylon tea under global ‘Geographical Indicators’ rules that would help market its main export product, a senior official said. That allowed the country to market Ceylon tea worldwide as an environmentally friendly and ozone friendly product. The government […]