Category: Other
Italian winemakers first to invest in India: company
NEW DELHI, December 22, 2009 (AFP) – Two Italian winemakers have become the first foreign producers to invest directly in India, seeking to tap into a growing taste for the drink in the emerging market, their Indian partner said Tuesday.Riona Wines, based in the western Indian state of Maharastra, the country’s grape-growing centre, told AFP […]
‘s plastics
HAWTHORNE, December 22, 2009 (AFP) – Frederic Scheer is biding his time, convinced that by 2013 the price of oil will be so high that his bio-plastics, made from vegetables and plants, will be highly marketable.Cereplast, which has 25 employees in California and in Indiana, has accumulated a series of patents for the technology it […]
Iran Bound
SEOUL, December 21, 2009 (AFP) – A planeload of weapons from North Korea seized in Bangkok this month was bound for Iran, a newspaper report said Monday, citing documents obtained by arms trafficking experts.US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair had said last week that the 35-tonne cargo, shipped in defiance of UN sanctions on […]
Refugee Drama
JAKARTA, December 20, 2009 (AFP) – Fifteen of the Sri Lankan asylum seekers who spent weeks refusing to get off the boat that rescued them near Indonesia have left the country, a foreign ministry official said Sunday.“They left Indonesia yesterday.Two were flown to Australia and the other 13 were taken to an evacuation centre in […]
Asset Sales
Dec 20, 2009 (LBO) – Court appointed officials liquidating assets of Golden Key Credit Card Company, a failed finance firm in Sri Lanka’s Ceylinco group, are planning an auction of assets, and offers have been received for the sale of a hospital, a media report said.The Sunday Island newspaper said several offers have been received […]
Climate leaders: The rhetoric vs. the reality
COPENHAGEN, December 19, 2009 (AFP) – They had been urged to side with the angels but ultimately, base political instinct seems to have prevailed among the world’s most powerful leaders as they sealed a climate pact among themselves, sparking fury elsewhere.From the eve of the 12-day marathon right until its finale, the overwhelming message in […]
Copenhagen deal passed amid condemnation, disappointment
COPENHAGEN, December 19, 2009 (AFP) – A UN conference on Saturday rammed through a battle plan against climate change forged by US President Barack Obama and other top leaders, sidelining smaller states which lashed the deal as a betrayal.After toxic exchanges through the night, the summit chair forced through a deal using a procedural tool […]
Sri Lanka commodity futures exchange mooted
Dec 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should set up a commodity futures exchange and introduce forward contracts to make farmers more efficient and earn more, a policy advocacy group has suggested.“We must use information communications technology to give farmers information on weather, prices, costs and procurement of inputs.” “The forward sale contract system should […]
‘s NDTV Imagine for 126.5 million
NEW DELHI, December 17, 2009 (AFP) – Time Warner Inc said Thursday its board had approved the acquisition of Indian entertainment channel NDTV Imagine Ltd.for 126.5 million dollars. The purchase from NDTV Networks Plc will be made through unit Turner Asia Pacific Ventures, Inc.and will see it gain a 92 percent stake in Imagine, and […]
Sri Lanka seen losing status as tea exporter
Dec 17, 2009 (LBO) – China has overtaken Sri Lanka as the world’s second largest tea exporter, and the island is in danger of losing its position as a major export origin, the Sri Lanka Tea Board has warned.But China and Vietnam are understood to have maintained their usual black tea production and enjoyed the […]
‘s Bharti to buy Bangladesh mobile operator: regulator
DHAKA, December 16, 2009 (AFP) – Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel is seeking to buy Bangladesh’s fourth-largest mobile phone operator Warid from its Abu Dhabi-based owners, regulators said Wednesday.The Dhabi Group, which fully owns Warid Telecom, has sought approval from the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission for the sale of a 70 percent stake in the […]
Sri Lanka tea factories cut energy costs
Dec 16, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea factories are cutting energy costs under an initiative to make them more competitive in overseas markets given the island’s high cost of electricity, industry officials said.Furthermore, a lot of the machinery in tea factories is old and not energy efficient, officials said.Tea was the first sector selected […]