Category: Other
Sri Lanka Hayleys to increase exports to food chains
Feb 03, 2010 (LBO) –Sri Lanka™s Hayleys conglomerate is building a factory in the former war zone in the east to increase exports of pickled gherkins to food companies such as McDonald™s and Burger King. The partnership will open up new markets for farmers in the east, increase their incomes and expand the economic base […]
False Himalaya glacier scare hurt global warming claims
LONDON, February 3, 2010 (AFP) – The embattled chief of the UN climate change panel admitted Wednesday that a mistake in a landmark 2007 report had damaged the body’s credibility, in an interview with a British newspaper. But Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), refused to apologise in the interview […]
Sri Lanka Horana Plantations Dec net up on high tea prices
Feb 02, 2010 (LBO) – High tea prices helped Sri Lanka’s Horana Plantations to make a profit of 75 million rupees in the December, according to accounts filed with the stock exchange. Horana Plantations said the wage deal was effective from April 2009 and that wage arrears amounting to 68.05 million rupees has been recognised […]
Sri Lanka CIC profits up on government receipts
Feb 01, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Chemical Industries (Colombo) has returned to profit in the December 2009 quarter helped by a 250 million rupee past due payment from the government. In its annual report last year the firm said Chemcel (Pvt) Ltd, would make a speciality chemical with a US partner and was held […]
Maldives in privatization drive to up efficiency, fix finances: IMF
Jan 31, 2010 (LBO) – The Indian Ocean archipelago of Maldives will privatize its airport but could also sell down other state enterprises and bring private capital to a domestic bank, the International Monetary Fund has said. “A central plank will be the privatization of the airport, but stakes in the telecommunications company have already […]
Maldives pledges deepest carbon emission cut by 2020
Jan 31, 2010 (LBO) – Maldives has voluntarily pledged to slash carbon emissions 100 percent by 2020, which is the deepest cut promised by any country so far under an international accord, the Indian Ocean archipelago said. “Climate change threatens us all,” Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed said in a statement. “If we don’t act now, […]
Media Muzzle
January 30, 2010 (AFP) – Police in Sri Lanka shut down the offices of an opposition newspaper on Saturday, the weekly said, as international rights groups accused the authorities of a vendetta against critical media. Police went to the offices of the Lanka weekly and sealed the premises, a day after taking its editor into […]
Lawmaker bids to make Nepal gay tourism destination
KATHMANDU, January 24, 2010 (AFP) – Nepal will this year play host to a royal wedding with a difference when an openly gay Indian prince marries his partner at a Hindu temple in Kathmandu. The ceremony is the start of what Nepalese lawmaker Sunil Babu Pant hopes will become a lucrative business for his country, […]
Sri Lankan tea output down in 2009 despite year end rally
Jan 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production was fell 9.0 percent to 289.77 million kilograms in 2009, despite a sharp recovery in output in the latter part of the year amid surging prices. In December tea output rose 29.5 percent to 25.1 million kilogram from a year earlier. Orthodox black tea, which is […]
Arms Dealing
WASHINGTON, January 23, 2010 (AFP) – A New York court sentenced two men to 14 and 26 years in prison Friday for providing support to the Tamil Tigers separatist group, the Justice Department said Friday. Government troops killed the LTTE leadership and declared the total annihilation of the separatist guerrillas on May 18, ending Asia’s […]
‘s child brides
PARIS, January 22, 2010 (AFP) – Babies born to child brides in India run a higher risk of malnourishment compared to those born to older mothers, says a paper appearing on Friday. Anita Raj, a professor at Boston University School of Public Health, led an investigation into 19,000 children born to 13,500 women who had […]
Sri Lanka dairy farmers get US lift
Jan 20, 2010 (LBO) – Dairy farmers in eastern Sri Lanka will get technical help to improve milk production and also be linked to agri-business firms, in a program supported by the United States. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has signed a deal with Manmunai West Livestock Breeders Cooperative Society to increase the […]