Category: Other
Sri Lanka seeks harmony between elephants and humans
LUNUGAMWEHERA, May 17, 2010 (AFP) – In the early hours of a hot dry day, four orphaned elephants begin a bumpy truck ride back to the jungles of southern Sri Lanka where they had been rescued from near certain death. The four baby jumbos — now aged five and six — are ready to leave […]
Sri Lanka monsoon rains displace 75,000
May 17, 2010 (AFP) – At least three people were killed and about 75,000 people were driven out of their homes as monsoon rains lashed Sri Lanka on Monday, the disaster management centre said. Some roads in the capital and in worst-hit central and southern Sri Lanka have been rendered impassable, the centre’s assistant director […]
Maldives offers to take two Guantanamo Bay prisoners
May 16, 2010 (AFP) – The Maldives has offered to take two detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, in what it described as a humanitarian gesture, the foreign minister said Sunday. US President Barack Obama, who has vowed to close the “war on terror” camp, has asked […]
‘s Agalawatte Plantations buoyed by high rubber, palm oil prices
May 17, 2010 (LBO) – High rubber and palm oil prices helped Sri Lanka’s Agalawatte Plantations make a net profit of 36 million rupees in the March 2010 quarter compared with a loss of 68 million rupees the year before, latest accounts showed. Agalawatte Plantations’ tea business made a small gross profit of 1.9 million […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]