Category: Other
Sri Lanka tea export earnings to hit record high
August 5, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is expected to earn a record 1.4 billion dollars from its tea exports this year thanks to a bumper crop, an official said Thursday. Tea, Sri Lanka’s biggest cash crop, earned 71.3 billion rupees (635 million dollars) in the first six months of 2010 compared with 58.2 billion […]
Sri Lanka Kelani Valley Plantations June net down 82-pct
Aug 04, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Kelani Valley Plantations net profit for the June 2010 quarter fell 82 percent to seven million rupees from a year ago as costs shot up and tea prices fell, a stock exchange filing said. Sales of the firm which grows tea and rubber and is a subsidiary of […]
Malaysia vows to curb illegal migration to Australia
KUALA LUMPUR, August 4, 2010 (AFP) – Malaysia said Wednesday it was confident of halting the flow of illegal migrants to Australia, after introducing tough penalties for smugglers using the country as a transit point. Malaysia can now impose harsh sentences including jail terms of up to 20 years, and fines of up to 1.0 […]
Large gaps in Asia-Pacific development goals: UN
JAKARTA, August 3, 2010 (AFP) – South Asia is lagging behind the Asia-Pacific region in poverty and hunger reduction, and is in danger of missing these key targets in the UN’s millennium development goals, a UN official said Tuesday. Ministers from around the region gathered at a review of the millennium goals (MDGs) heard that […]
Sri Lankan, Hawaiian sites added to world heritage list
BRASILIA, July 31, 2010 (AFP) – A region of mountainous forests in Sri Lanka and an isolated archipelago off Hawaii have been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list, officials of the UN cultural and scientific body said Saturday. The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization decided to add the […]
Bangladesh police, garment workers clash for second day
DHAKA, July 31, 2010 (AFP) – Bangladeshi police fired rubber bullets Saturday in a bid to subdue garment workers who rioted for a second day in protest against low pay as unrest spread to areas outside Dhaka, police said. Workers fought pitched street battles with riot police in the manufacturing hub of Ashulia, north of […]
India wants Kohinoor diamond back. Cameron says no
NEW DELHI, July 29, 2010 (AFP) – The real jewel in Britain’s actual crown will not be returning to India, Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday, as he ruled out any repatriation of the famed Kohinoor diamond. The 105 carat gemstone set in the coronation crown of the British royals was mined in the southern […]
Bangladesh garment workers rampage in Dhaka: police
DHAKA, July 30, 2010 (AFP) – Thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers blocked highways, attacked factories and looted shops in Dhaka on Friday, police said, after rejecting the terms of a government wage hike. An estimated 5,000 workers, who stitch clothes for leading Western brands, blocked the city’s main Tejgaon link road and attacked dozens of […]
Sri Lanka Carson oil palm profits down
July 29, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Carson Cumberbatch group net profit for the June 2010 quarter fell 12 percent to 1. 19 billion rupees from a year ago with a lower contribution from its oil palm plantations in east Asia, latest results showed. Revenue of the group, which has oil palm plantations in Indonesia […]
Soros to buy 4.0 percent stake in Bombay bourse: report
MUMBAI, July 28, 2010 (AFP) – Billionaire investor George Soros is close to sealing a 40-million-dollar deal to buy Dubai Holding’s 4. 0 percent stake in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Financial Times reported Wednesday. If the purchase goes through, it would be the latest in a series of strategic foreign investments in India’s […]
India hikes rates for fourth time this year
MUMBAI, July 27, 2010 (AFP) – India’s central bank is expected to raise interest rates on Tuesday for the fourth time this year in an attempt to tame the highest inflation among the Group of 20 economic powers. The Congress-led government has been under constant attack from opposition parties for its inability to protect the […]
Shares in India carmaker Maruti plunge on profit fall
MUMBAI, July 26, 2010 (AFP) – Shares in India’s biggest carmaker Maruti Suzuki plunged more than 10 percent on Monday after it reported a surprise 20-percent fall in quarterly net profit over the weekend. The shares of the New Delhi-based company, which is majority-owned by Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp, were down by nearly 11 percent, […]