Category: Other
France announces sovereign wealth fund to protect champions
ANNECY, October 23, 2008 (AFP) – President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the creation of a French sovereign wealth fund on Thursday, promising to protect the strategic heights of the economy from the global financial storm. Declaring that the recent turmoil had killed off the “dictatorship of the market”, Sarkozy vowed to lead Europe towards a model […]
Sri Lanka small tea farmers to get fertilizer subsidy
Oct 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is offering a fertilizer subsidy to small tea farmers three times a year, at a cost of 4.7 billion rupees a year, officials said, while Colombo tea prices slid on a commodity bubble collapse. Sri Lanka’s populist vote-buying subsidies have been blamed for the large budget deficits in […]
Sri Lanka tea factory owners ask for help as prices crash
Oct 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan private tea factory owners are asking for a six billion rupee bank over draft bailout package to help them get over the crisis caused by the crash in prices. “The sudden, massive drop in prices and large quantities of that category of teas offered remaining unsold either because […]
” cockatoo rediscovered in Indonesia: researchers
JAKARTA, October 23, 2008 (AFP) – A species of cockatoo feared to have become extinct has been “rediscovered” with the sighting of a handful of breeding pairs on a remote Indonesian island, researchers said Thursday. Ten Yellow-crested Abbott’s cockatoos were found on the Masalembu archipelago off Java island, the Indonesian Cockatoo Conservation group told AFP. […]
Debt Consultant
Oct 22, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a statement on a consultant Toshihisa Iida, the spouse of the head of the World Bank country office, Naoko Ishii. The statement is reproduced below: We refer to an article which appeared on a Sunday newspaper pertaining to Mr. Toshihisa Iida, Consultant […]
Sri Lanka agro firm warns price controls are hurting quality
Oct 22, 2008 (LBO) – A top Sri Lankan agro enterprise has warned that state controls of prices would block quality gains of agricultural produce with government slapping price ceilings on rice in the wake of a global bubble in April. “In the question of price control of rice what has happened is that you […]
Fed rolls out new 540-bln-dollar aid to financial sector
WASHINGTON, October 22, 2008 (AFP) – The US Federal Reserve reached deeper into the troubled financial system on Tuesday, offering up to 540 billion dollars of help to money market mutual funds in its latest response to the credit crunch. Under a new program, the Fed offered the funds to back a private sector initiative […]
Australia considers amending deposit guarantee: Treasurer
SYDNEY, October 22, 2008 (AFP) – Australia is considering changing its multi-billion-dollar bank deposit guarantee scheme by charging savers who have more than one million dollars in the bank, Treasurer Wayne Swan said Wednesday. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced on October 12 an unlimited three-year guarantee on all deposits in institutions such as banks, credit […]
Dollar gains against Sterling to five-year high
LONDON, October 22, 2008 (AFP) – The British pound fell Wednesday to a five-year low point against the dollar after Bank of England governor Mervyn King indicated that Britain was “likely” entering a recession. Sterling sank to 1.6203 against the dollar shortly before 0600 GMT, which was its lowest level against the greenback since September […]
World oil prices extend losses with dollar strength
SINGAPORE, October 22, 2008 (AFP) – World oil prices weakened in Asian trade Wednesday on renewed worries about energy demand in the face of slowing global growth, dealers said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, fell 2.72 dollars to 69.46 dollars a barrel from its close of 72.18 dollars in the […]
French workers made sick by Indian radioactive lift buttons
GRENOBLE, October 22, 2008 (AFP) – French factory workers were exposed to excessive levels of radiation as they handled luminous lift buttons made using unsafe material from India, officials said. France’s Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) classed the incident at “Level Two” on a scale of seven because of the exposure of more than 10 people […]
Sri Lankan tea prices tumble at Colombo auction
Oct 21, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea auction prices tumbled Tuesday amidst a collapsing global commodity bubble, though brokers said volumes picked up and an approaching winter was likely to bring more buying interest.“We’re confident that, while the market won’t go back to pre-currency drop rates, demand will pick up and stocks will begin […]