Category: Other
Good Faith
Oct 19, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan-born hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam was investigated for allegedly funding Tamil Tiger rebels, but there was no evidence against him, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka said Monday.US authorities on Friday charged Rajaratnam, 52, with fraud after saying they had uncovered the biggest ever case of insider-trading by […]
Ethnic Support
VANCOUVER, October 19, 2009 (AFP) – The Canadian Tamil Congress said Sunday its lawyers will represent dozens of illegal migrants arrested on a mystery ship seized off Canada’s West Coast.Detention hearings will begin early this week for as many as 76 migrants from a freighter seized Friday by Canadian military, police and other agencies. The […]
Suspect Donations
Oct 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is continuing investigations into financial support given to a Tamil charity with alleged terrorist links by a US hedge fund manager who was arrested for fraud, a senior official said.Sri Lankan Central Bank governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal told LBO the banking regulator was still investigating contributions made by […]
Wealthy Donor
WASHINGTON, October 18, 2009 (AFP) – A US-based hedge-fund billionaire charged as part of an insider-trading case was investigated by US authorities for allegedly raising funds for a Sri Lankan separatist group, The Wall Street Journal reported late Saturday. Citing people familiar with the probe, the newspaper said federal agents had uncovered documents showing that […]
Maldives leader turns stuntman to fight climate change
MALE, October 18, 2009 (AFP) – Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed, who staged the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting at the weekend, is emerging as the global stuntman in the battle against climate change.Nasheed, 42, dived with his cabinet to the sea bottom Saturday in an effort to press December’s UN summit in Copenhagen to cap […]
Repayment Hitch
Oct 18, 2009 (LBO) – A repayment plan proposed for Ceylinco Shriram Capital Management Services, a unit of Sri Lanka’s troubled Ceylinco group has been rejected by customers who put money in the company, a media report said.In Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court where the case relating to Golden Key is being heard, 259 million rupees […]
‘s richest man wins govt praise for pay cut
NEW DELHI, October 17, 2009 (AFP) – India’s government has praised a decision by India’s richest businessman Mukesh Ambani to take a 66 percent pay cut after it called for firms to avoid “vulgar” executive salaries, a report said Saturday.The minister’s call to rein in executive pay came amid pressure from governments around the world […]
Maldives ministers set for underwater cabinet meeting
MALE, October 17, 2009 (AFP) – The government in the Maldives is set to hold its first underwater cabinet meeting Saturday to attract international attention to the dangers of global warming, a spokeswoman said. The Maldives, located southwest of Sri Lanka, has become a vocal campaigner in the battle to halt rising sea levels. In […]
Inside Deals
NEW YORK, October 16, 2009 (AFP) – US authorities Friday charged a billionaire hedge fund manager and five others with insider trading that netted 20 million dollars on trades in Google, Hilton Hotels Corp. and other companies. The case was helped by a cooperating witness, who indicated that Rajaratnam learned, for example in 2007 that […]
Sri Lanka high grown tea prices rise
Oct 16, 2009 (LBO) – Prices of Sri Lanka’s high grown teas rose at this week’s Colombo auctions with brokers saying the market is likely to remain buoyed by a continuing global shortage. Some teas grown on the estates of regional plantations companies fetched record prices but many teas from the low grown regions fell, […]
Obama signs huge Pakistan aid package into law
WASHINGTON, October 16, 2009 (AFP) – President Barack Obama signed a 7.5 billion dollar aid package for Pakistan into law Thursday, as the key US anti-terror ally reeled from a new wave of militant attacks which killed 40 people. The requirements sparked uproar in the Pakistani parliament, and were used by opponents of the government’s […]
Stand-off
MERAK, October 16, 2009 (AFP) – Two asylum-seekers were hospitalised Friday from a boatload of 255 Sri Lankans who have declared a hunger strike in Indonesia to demand UN refugee status, an official said.Indonesian immigration and navy officials were trying to negotiate with the migrants who were intercepted off the Indonesian coast on Sunday as […]