Category: Other
‘s Baurs goes deeper into infant food
Feb 14, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s diversified A. Baur & Company has launched a new powdered milk brand to boost its share in the premiumn infant milk powder business. Baurs says it already has a 20 percent market share in the infant milk powder segment. The product, ‘Enfakid’, developed by US food giant Mead […]
‘s News Corp.: report
NEW YORK, Feb 13, 2008 (AFP) – Yahoo is exploring a possible alliance with media conglomerate News Corp.to stave off a take-over by software giant Microsoft, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. owns the Journal, as well a global media empire that includes popular online social networking website MySpace, Dow […]
‘s Day to heart
MALE Feb 14, 2008 (LBO) – Unsigned love letters, flowers, tokens and trinkets of undying affection.This is not a page from a romantic novel, but how youngsters in the Islamic Republic of Maldives plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day celebrations and marketing gimmicks have, according to many, reached a new high this year, with […]
Indian Ocean naval summit opens
NEW DELHI, Feb 14, 2008 (AFP) – India on Thursday launched its first naval summit aimed at forging ties with nations that have a stake in the busy maritime lanes of the Indian Ocean.Twenty-six representatives of navies from countries including Australia, Egypt, France and Sri Lanka are attending the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), seen […]
Security Council slams use of children in armed conflict
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – The UN Security Council on Tuesday slammed the continuing recruitment and use of children in armed conflict and deplored the systematic use of rape and other forms of sexual violence against them.It did so in a non-binding statement adopted at the end of a day-long debate attended by […]
” to Aborigines
CANBERRA, Feb 13, 2008 (AFP) – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made an historic apology to Aborigines Wednesday for injustices committed over two centuries of white settlement, saying he wanted “to remove a great stain from the nation’s soul.” The apology represented a watershed in Australia’s often fraught history of race relations, with television networks […]
World oil market could be set for lengthy slowdown: IEA
PARIS, Feb 13, 2008 (AFP) – The world oil market could be set for a lengthy slowdown, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday, signalling a sharp shift in the climate which pushed the oil price to 100 dollars last month.The IEA is based in Paris and is an offshoot of the OECD. “Just as […]
US, banks unveil aid for homeowners facing foreclosure
WASHINGTON, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Tuesday unveiled a new private sector-led program backed by six leading home lenders to help homeowners facing foreclosure in a deepening real-estate slump to keep their homes.The plan would allow borrowers at immediate risk of losing their homes an opportunity to pause the […]
Sri Lankan cloves prices stabilize after tumble
Feb 13, 2008 (LBO) – Prices of Sri Lankan clove have stabilized after a sharp fall last month, a senior official has said. But growers are expected to start harvesting more as prices firm and also to do replanting. Gulam Chatoor of the Spices & Allied Products Producers’ and Traders’ Association (SAPPTA) said producers and […]
”
PARIS, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – In a scorching annual report, Reporters Without Borders blamed Wednesday the “impotence, cowardice and duplicity” of some Western countries and top world bodies that it said threatened press freedom.“The spinelessness of some Western countries and major international bodies is harming press freedom,” said Robert Menard, head of the Paris-based […]
Dollar stable as traders digest G7 meeting
TOKYO, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – The dollar was steady against the yen in Asian trade Tuesday after world finance chiefs refrained from taking any concrete measures to stabilise markets at a weekend meeting, dealers said.They said the Tokyo market, which was closed on Monday for a national holiday, was still digesting the outcome of […]
Drought cuts 10 percent off Australian agricultural production
SYDNEY, Feb 12, 2008 (AFP) – Drought cut 10 percent off the value of Australia’s agricultural production in 2006-07, official figures showed Tuesday.Poor crop production fuelled the downturn to a total output of 34.2 billion dollars (30.8 billion US), the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. Cotton dipped 46 percent to 514 million dollars, while rice […]