Category: Other
Sri Lanka floods worsen, toll hits 12
January 10, 2011 (AFP) – Heavy rains lashed Sri Lanka’s central and eastern regions Monday with the death toll from mudslides rising to 12 and 900,000 people driven out of their flooded homes, officials said. The island’s two main monsoon seasons run from May to September and December to February. Military helicopters were deployed to […]
Sri Lanka floods kill seven, leave 750,000 homeless
January 9, 2011 (AFP) – At least seven people, including two children, were killed in mudslides in Sri Lanka where more than 750,000 people have been driven out of their homes by floods, officials said Sunday. The island’s two main monsoon seasons run from May to September and December to February. A six-year-old boy and […]
Thousands rally over blasphemy law in Pakistan: police
KARACHI, January 9, 2011 (AFP) – More than 20,000 people rallied in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi on Sunday, police said, against proposed amendment to blasphemy laws that were recently used to sentence a Christian woman to death. The protest follows Tuesday’s assassination of the governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, by one of his […]
Rule of Law
January 9, 2011 (AFP) – A media rights group on Sunday marked the second anniversary of the assassination in Sri Lanka of an anti-government editor by calling for a fresh search for his killers. Government soldiers defeated the Tigers in May 2009 after decades of fighting. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) accused the government of blocking […]
Sri Lanka floods kill two, 600,000 homeless
January 9, 2011 (AFP) – Two children were buried alive in mudslides on Sunday in Sri Lanka where more than 600,000 people have been driven out of their homes by floods, officials said. A six-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl were killed in separate incidents in the district of Badulla. Heavy rains have caused flooding […]
India stocks dive on interest rate concerns
MUMBAI, January 7, 2011 (AFP) – Indian stocks slumped for the fourth day running on Friday, shedding 2.44 percent on mounting fears that interest rates will be raised sooner than expected to curb the spiralling cost of food. The benchmark 30-share Sensex index ended 492.93 points lower at 19,691.81, a three-week low. Surging vegetable prices, […]
Sri Lanka allows duty free import of milch cows, dairy equipment
Jan 06, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is lifting all import levies on high yielding milk cows and diary equipment to promote domestic production of milk and is also increasing the farm gate price of milk, a senior minister said. Information minister Keheliya Rambukwelle said the cabinet of ministers had approved the tax change following […]
‘s stewardship of dynamic economy
WASHINGTON, January 5, 2011 (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund Wednesday praised India’s stewardship of one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, saying the country’s growth prospects appear robust. The IMF said that India had emerged from the global financial slump with a strong recovery since mid-2009 led by domestic demand, particularly infrastructure investment. “Executive directors […]
‘s silk sari industry
NEW DELHI, January 5, 2011 (AFP) – For centuries, the stunning silk saris woven by hand in the holy city of Varanasi have been prized by Indian women, but an influx of cheap Chinese-made copies is destroying the local industry. Badruddin Ansari, one of the few weavers still in business, says that most of his […]
‘s Cadbury purchase: report
NEW DELHI, January 3, 2011 (AFP) – India’s finance ministry has launched a probe into the takeover by Illinois-based Kraft Foods of British confectionery giant Cadbury that could see the US company hit with a huge tax bill, a report said Monday. The ministry has begun looking into the deal that saw Kraft buy the […]
‘s ruling party
NEW DELHI, January 4, 2011 (AFP) – One of India’s biggest corruption cases that tarnished late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s returned to haunt the ruling party on Tuesday amid new charges of kickbacks and graft. The weekly current affairs magazine India Today said in its New Year issue that “the size and […]
Sri Lanka plantations mull loans for replanting
Dec 31, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations are considering concessionary loans with interest subsidies from the government to improve replanting of tea, which has fallen behind targets, the Tea Board said. The plantations ministry wants to increase the re- plantation rate of regional plantations corporation estates to three percent a year from the current […]