Category: Other
Australia to start legal action against Japan over whaling
SYDNEY, May 28, 2010 (AFP) – Australia will start legal action to stop Japan hunting whales next week, officials said on Friday, following years of tensions over the annual slaughter in waters near Antarctica. Documents will be submitted to the International Court of Justice in The Hague “early next week”, after repeated threats of proceedings […]
Great Expectations
May 27, 2010 (LBO) – Education is an issue which many of us think we know how to fix, but, nobody is giving us the reigns. Lucky Minister Bandula Gunawardna the education ministry has fallen on his lap. Unlucky Minister BG – expectations about the ministry are high but there is no way that they […]
Boat People
KUALA LUMPUR, May 27, 2010 (AFP) – Sixty-one Sri Lankan asylum seekers held in a Malaysian immigration depot Thursday entered day three of a hunger strike in a desperate effort to win freedom and settlement in a third country. Immigration authorities could not be reached for comment. Activists say Malaysia is often used as a […]
‘s feuding billionaire Ambani brothers call a truce
MUMBAI, May 23, 2010 (AFP) – India’s warring billionaire Ambani brothers, who have battled in court over gas supplies, on Sunday called a truce and scrapped their contentious business pacts signed in 2006. Reliance Industries, led by Mukesh Ambani, and Reliance ADAG, led by Anil Ambani, pledged in a statement to create “an environment of […]
Nissan Motors to sell Micra in India
MUMBAI, May 24, 2010 (AFP) – Nissan Motor said Monday that production its Micra model had started in India and would be on sale from July to compete in the country’s fast-growing passenger car market. Bookings will open Tuesday for the small hatchback, which is being produced by the Indian arm of Japan’s Nissan in […]
Sri Lanka mulls rice surplus
May 24, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is likely to have a surplus of rice as paddy fields neglected owing to war in the north and east return to full production, government and private sector officials said. Unless there is a shift in food consumption patterns, ways to manage the excess production would have to […]
US Abbott buys Indian pharma unit for 3.7 billion dollars
MUMBAI, May 22, 2010 (AFP) – US healthcare group Abbott Laboratories has announced a 3. 7 billion-dollar buyout of the generic drugs unit of India’s Piramal Healthcare, as it moves to boost its presence in emerging markets. Abbott, which announced the acquisition in a statement late Friday, said the deal would make it the leading […]
Only tiny fraction of oil spilled will ever be recovered
VENICE, May 23, 2010 (AFP) – Despite a massive cleanup effort, experts warn that only a tiny fraction of the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from the wreckage of a BP-leased rig will ever be recovered. “The oil is out there and it’s out there to stay,” said Lisa Suatoni, a marine biologist […]
Egypt and Pakistan to boost trade
CAIRO, May 23, 2010 (AFP) – Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday that his country plans to boost trade with Egypt, during a visit to Cairo where he met with President Hosni Mubarak. Qureshi, who was accompanied on his trip by several ministers and a large delegation of businessmen, praised the “excellent” […]
Survivors tell of miracle escape from Indian air crash
BANGALORE, May 22, 2010 (AFP) – Some of the seven survivors who crawled or were carried from the burning remains of a plane that crashed in India on Saturday told of their escape amid scenes of horror and death. At least 159 people died after the plane overshot the runaway and plunged down a steep […]
Sri Lanka palm oil firm sees demand growing
May 21, 2010 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan business group with palm oil plantations in east Asia has said demand for the edible oil is likely to grow, driven mainly by China and India, with prices having stabilized at more realistic levels. The Carson Cumberbatch group controls palm oil plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia through […]
Sri Lankan tea prices fall
May 21, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices fell sharply at this week’s Colombo auctions with a larger weight on sale, lower quality and reduced demand, brokers said. “Auction quantities were substantially higher this week and totalled 8.0 million kilos,” Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers said in a report. “There was less demand and […]