Category: Other
India enters deflation as economy slows
NEW DELHI, June 18, 2009 (AFP) – India’s annual inflation rate slipped into negative territory, official data showed Thursday, with the country’s slowing economy cutting into demand.Inflation stood at minus 1.61 percent for the week ended June 6, down from 0.13 percent the previous week, according to the Wholesale Price Index, India’s most watched cost-of-living […]
Doomed mammoths hung on for several millennia: study
PARIS, June 17, 2009 (AFP) – Woolly mammoths survived in Britain until 14,000 years ago, around 6,000 years longer than previously thought, according to a study released Thursday.The study should settle a raging debate over the extinction of mammoths in Europe, unleashed when fossils from an adult male and four youngsters were found in the […]
Business leaders out to put India on US map
WASHINGTON, June 17, 2009 (AFP) – US and Indian business leaders meet Wednesday in a bid to put a new focus on the South Asian power, whose warming US ties have ironically kept it off the new administration’s first priorities.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to deliver an address charting out the administration’s path […]
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MUMBAI, June 16, 2009 (AFP) – A Bollywood director said Tuesday he wants to make a film based on alleged racist attacks on Indian students in Australia, despite an unofficial boycott of the country by his movie colleagues. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan rejected an honorary degree from Brisbane University, telling the authorities that it would be […]
Major Tamil Tiger arms cache found in Sri Lanka: govt
June 14, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops have unearthed the largest haul of weapons and ammunition discovered since the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels last month, the government said on Sunday. Military officials said the discoveries made over the weekend formed the largest haul since the government’s recent victory over the Tiger rebels ended […]
British court jails Tamil leader for helping Tigers
LONDON, June 12, 2009 (AFP) – A British Tamil leader convicted of supplying bomb-making equipment to Tamil Tiger rebels was jailed for two years by a court in London Friday, but the judge described him as a “thoroughly decent man.” “He is not merely a man of good character, he has done a great deal […]
US Congress passes historic curbs on deadly tobacco industry
WASHINGTON, (AFP) – The US Congress voted overwhelmingly Friday to grant the government historic powers to regulate cigarette makers, overturning decades of resistance by the powerful tobacco industry. The legislation, set to be signed into law later Friday by President Barack Obama, grants the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a regulatory body, the authority to […]
India orders no-fishing zones in security move
NEW DELHI, June 11, 2009 (AFP) – The Indian government is to ban fishing near sensitive facilities as part of an ongoing major security upgrade spurred by last year’s attacks on Mumbai by Islamic militants, an official said Thursday.No-fishing zones will be created along 7,500 kilometres (4,650 miles) of designated coastal zones to protect “important” […]
Geothermal energy industry could create 17,000 Australian jobs: report
BRISBANE, June 11 (Asia Pulse) – More than 17,000 jobs could be created in Australia’s geothermal energy industry by 2050, a new report says. The geothermal industry, which involves extracting heat stored in the earth to generate power, is growing in Australia with almost 400 tenements for projects and around $A1.5 billion (US$1.2 billion) in […]
Sri Lanka Finlay teas sell well in Iraq
June 10, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s James Finlay group said tea exports to Iraq did well in 2008 despite the strife and that it expanded its marketing and launched a new product with higher profit margins. Jayasuriya said the company took advantage of the oil price boom of 2007-08 which increased consumer spending in […]
Maldives declares whale shark sanctuaries
June 10, 2009 (LBO) – Maldives has established three protected areas for whale sharks, the world’s largest fish, the Indian Ocean atoll state which is famed for its corals and marine resources, said. The marine protected areas have been declared in and around Baa atoll Hanifaru, Baa atoll An’gafaru and South Ari atoll Maamigili, to […]
Chief Judge
June 08, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government has appointed Justice Asoka de Silva as the island’s new chief justice. Justice de Silva took oaths as Sri Lanka’s 32nd chief justice before President Mahinda Rajapaksa Monday morning, the government information department said in a statement. He is the senior-most Sri Lankan judge and has […]