Category: Other
‘s war-torn east beckons business
May 19, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s eastern province is recovering rapidly from the effects of war and provides opportunities for business, especially in agriculture, a senior official said. The conflict ended last May, resulting in an economic revival in the region as well as the rest of the country. Wijewickrema said the revival of […]
Customs Info
May 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has signed a deal with the country’s customs office to share information to help counter money laundering and terrorist financing. The FIU says it is chasing more information sharing deal with other domestic agencies. “The Financial Intelligence Unit and other authorities such as Sri […]
India struggles to count its millions
NEW DELHI, May 18, 2010 (AFP) – In a labyrinthine district of New Delhi, Kalpana Singh is busy knocking on doors, straining to make out house numbers scratched on the walls and warmly greeting residents with a smile. She is on a mission to record and document the occupants of the teeming and decrepit area […]
Sri Lanka promotes specialty teas in Japan
May 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is promoting the manufacture of specialty teas by its industry, with a competition in Japan giving recognition to producers and earning top prices, officials said. Anil Cooke, chairman of the Colombo Tea Brokers’ Association, said Sri Lanka has seven distinct growing regions and 36 valleys and growing districts. […]
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 […]