Category: Other
Bangladesh police bust extortion town
DHAKA, July 12, 2010 (AFP) – Bangladesh’s elite security forces said Monday they had made a major breakthrough in the fight against extortion with a raid on town where nearly every resident was involved in racketeering. A series of raids on Lundhi, 90 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital Dhaka and home to 2,000 […]
Australia backs away from Timor refugee plan
SYDNEY, July 9, 2010 (AFP) – Australia’s new prime minister Julia Gillard appeared Friday to be backing away from a controversial proposal to process asylum seekers bound for its shores in impoverished East Timor. Gillard Tuesday launched her bid for a regional processing centre with assurances she had discussed the plan with East Timor’s President […]
Security Change
July 08, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is rapidly removing military checkpoints and transferring public security to the police to return the country to normalcy after the end of a 30-year war, defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said. He said in the eastern province the change-over was being successfully carried out. “In Colombo we are gradually […]
Sri Lanka top tea brand invests in plantations
July 07, 2010 (LBO) – Tea bag exporter Ceylon Tea Services, part of Sri Lanka’s Dilmah brand group, is to invest 233.3 million rupees in a tea plantations subsidiary of the parent firm, a statement said. Ceylon Tea Services said in a stock exchange filing that it bought 15,553,600 rights in Kahawatte Plantations from Forbes […]
Bangladesh sex workers plump up on cow steroids
FARIDPUR, July 7, 2010 (AFP) – Whenever Bangladeshi brothel owner Rokeya, 50, signs up a new sex worker she gives them a course of steroid drugs often used to fatten cattle. For older sex workers, tablets work well, said Rokeya, but for younger girls of 12 to 14 — who are normally sold to the […]
Maldives president reappoints cabinet : official
July 7, 2010 (AFP) – Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed on Wednesday reappointed his cabinet in a bid to end the power struggle between himself and parliament, an official said. Nasheed swore in his 13-member cabinet in the seafront capital of Male, giving ministers the same portfolio they had before they resigned last Tuesday, a senior […]
Celebrations as Dalai Lama turns 75
DHARAMSHALA, July 6, 2010 (AFP) – The Dalai Lama marks his 75th birthday on Tuesday, with thousands set to celebrate the occasion in his hometown-in-exile and events planned across the globe from Europe to Australia. The Nobel laureate will address a crowd of 5,000 fans and followers at his temple in McLeod Ganj, a hill […]
” on immigration
SYDNEY, July 4, 2010 (AFP) – Australia’s new Prime Minister Julia Gillard Sunday vowed not to let “political correctness” get in the way of tackling immigration, signalling a tough line on the issue. Gillard, who ruthlessly deposed former leader Kevin Rudd and solved the mining tax row that weakened him a week later, said people […]
Sri Lanka cocoa price hike may prompt imports
July 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan cocoa prices have shot up owing to cop failure and heavy demand for cocoa beans might prompt the confectionary industry to resort to imports, a trade body said. The Spices & Allied Products Producers™ and Traders™ Association (SAPPTA) said the price for a kilo of grade one cocoa […]
Sri Lanka tea bag exports fall
July 02, 2010 (LBO) – Shipments of tea bags from Sri Lanka to Russia, the main market for tea, the island™s biggest export commodity, have fallen as high import duties on value added teas deter exports, latest data showed. The share of value added tea exports to the Russian market has been falling in recent […]
House arrest for Maldivian opposition MPs as crisis drags
July 1, 2010 (AFP) – A Maldivian court has ordered the house arrest of two key opposition lawmakers amid a power struggle between the country’s president and parliament, an official said Thursday. The Criminal Court of Male told police on Wednesday night to keep the two men under house arrest for three days, but the […]
Graft fears as massive cash sums fly out of Kabul: WSJ
KABUL, June 28, 2010 (AFP) – More than three billion dollars in cash has been flown out of Kabul in recent years amid fears that ill-gotten gains from corruption and narcotics are being stashed overseas, a report said Monday. The Wall Street Journal said the cash — more than the Afghan government collects in tax […]