Category: Other
India slowly gets to grips with ecommerce
MUMBAI, May 16, 2010 (AFP) – Vipul Modi is a busy high court lawyer in India’s financial capital Mumbai. Like many people, he uses the Internet to buy rail and airline tickets as well as pay his utility bills. Yet when it comes to buying other products online, the 44-year-old has misgivings, particularly about the […]
Jail Term
VANCOUVER, May 14, 2010 (AFP) – A judge sentenced a Tamil Tiger fundraiser to six months in jail here Friday after the man pleaded guilty to raising money in Canada to help support the Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka. Powers reviewed Thambithurai’s story, from his move to Canada in 1988 as a young refugee following […]
‘s Maoist heartland
RAIPUR, May 14, 2010 (AFP) – When Samir Xalxo has a story to tell he makes a phone call and within hours people across one of India’s least developed and most violent states will be able to catch up on the news. The system, developed by Microsoft Research India, allows trained amateur journalists in Chhattisgarh […]
Sri Lanka tea prices fall as crops increase
May 14, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices fell at this week’s Colombo auctions owing to bigger quantities and lower quality and are likely to fall further in line with seasonal trends, brokers said. Prices of most teas from both the main low grown sector, which accounts for the bulk of the crop, and […]
India plans 11 billion dollar infrastructure fund: report
NEW DELHI, May 14, 2010 (AFP) – India aims to create an 11-billion-dollar fund to overhaul its creaking infrastructure, with 40 percent of the money sourced from abroad, a report said Friday. The government wants to raise 4.4 billion dollars from foreign pension, insurance and sovereign wealth funds and the rest from domestic institutions, the […]
Legal Action
VANCOUVER, May 11, 2010 (AFP) – A fundraiser for the outlaw Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers pleaded guilty here Tuesday in the first case to be prosecuted under Canada’s terrorism financing laws. Prapaharan Thambithurai “pleaded guilty to providing financial services, knowing that they will benefit a terrorist group, namely the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),” […]
‘s waste disposal failures
NEW DELHI, May 11, 2010 (AFP) – The death from radiation poisoning of a scrapyard worker in New Delhi has highlighted the lax enforcement of waste disposal laws in India, leading to calls for urgent action. In early April, a machine from Delhi University containing cobalt-60, a radioactive metal used for radiotherapy in hospitals, ended […]
‘s 3G auction licence bids continue to rise
NEW DELHI, May 8, 2010 (AFP) – Bids for nationwide licences in India’s sale of spectrum for superfast 3G mobile services have hit 2. 65 billion dollars, a statement on a government website said Saturday. That price — 120.69 billion rupees (2.65 billion) — is nearly 3.5 times the 35 billion rupee reserve price set […]
Sri Lanka tea export earnings hit new high
May 07, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea export earnings in the three months to March 2010 hit a new high in rupee terms although lower volumes were shipped compared with recent years, brokers said. Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers said Sri Lanka’s tea exports in March 2010 fell by about five million kilos to […]
Sri Lanka coastal lagoons threatened by mangrove planting: researcher
May 06, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s coastal lagoons could be threatened by rapid sedimentation as a side-effect of fresh mangroves planted by humans for protection against a possible future tsunami, a researcher has warned. “However this activity ranked highest among investments made both by government and non-governmental organizations,” Samarakoon told a forum organized by […]
” corruption undermines Indian media
NEW DELHI, May 5, 2010 (AFP) – The Indian media, a pillar of the country’s vibrant democracy, is riddled with corruption that sees journalists report stories for cash in a phenomenon known as “paid news,” a probe has revealed. The findings of an investigation for the Press Council of India, seen by AFP but yet […]
‘s Huawei seeks India meeting over telcom ban: report
NEW DELHI, May 4, 2010 (AFP) – Chinese telecoms maker Huawei Technologies is planning to meet senior Indian officials to persuade them its equipment poses no security threat, a report said Tuesday. The move comes after New Delhi said last week it blocked sales between Indian mobile phone operators and Chinese equipment firms, which the […]