Category: Other
Sri Lanka small tea grower factory profits surge
Nov 01, 2007 (LBO) – Rising low grown tea prices have helped boost Sri Lanka’s Tea Smallholder Factories’ second quarter profit net profit 151 percent to 33.5 million rupees compared with the same period a year ago. Revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2007 shot up 62 percent to 578 million rupees, according to […]
Paradise Isle
GENEVA, Oct 30, 2007 (AFP) – The UN’s top torture expert, Manfred Nowak, said on Tuesday that torture — including beatings, asphyxiation and burning — was becoming “routine” during counter-terrorism operations in Sri Lanka.Nowak said in statement on his mission to the conflict-torn Indian Ocean island earlier this month that there was evidence that “torture […]
Curbing Corruption
Oct 31, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s bribery and corruption commission has vast powers to probe official misdeeds but cannot act except on a complaint and has its impartiality questioned by the presence of police investigators. Although commission officials say it is one of the most flexible and authoritative bodies compared to similar departments around […]
‘s Ambani not so rich after all, says company
NEW DELHI, Oct 30, 2007 (AFP) – Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries moved swiftly Tuesday to deny a report that company chief Mukesh Ambani has become the world’s richest man thanks to a surge in India’s stock market.The report by the Press Trust of India putting his wealth at 63.2 billion dollars saw newspapers hailing his […]
Growing pains for Maldives as radicals raise tensions
MALE, Oct 31, 2007 (AFP) – The Maldives has built South Asia’s most successful economy based on luxury tourism, but the atoll nation is now facing religious tensions as it undergoes a difficult transition to democracy.The tranquillity of the paradise holiday destination was shattered in September when Islamic radicals set off a home-made bomb, wounding […]
Moonlighting army moves garbage in tourist paradise
MALE, Oct 29, 2007 (AFP) – The Maldives is known as an upmarket holiday destination with squeaky clean beaches, but it’s an army of moonlighting Bangladeshis who keep the capital from sinking under a mountain of rubbish. The less than one square mile (two square kilometre) Male is one of the world’s most densely populated […]
Indian shares gain 3.82 percent to new record close
MUMBAI, Oct 29, 2007 (AFP) – India’s benchmark share index surged 3.82 percent to a new record close on Monday and crossed 20,000 points for the first time, a gain of nearly 4,000 points in the past six weeks, dealers said. They said hopes that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may cut key interest […]
Oil prices fall from historic highs
SINGAPORE, Oct 30, 2007 (AFP) – Oil retreated in Asian trade Tuesday after spiking to a historic high of over 93 dollars on geopolitical concerns in the Middle East, dealers said.At 10:30 am (0230 GMT) New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, was 84 cents lower at 92.69 dollars a barrel from […]
Birth defects soar in polluted China
BEIJING, Oct 30, 2007 (AFP) – Birth defects in heavily polluted China have increased by nearly 40 percent since 2001, with a deformed baby born every 30 seconds, state media reported on Tuesday.The rate of defects appeared to increase near the country’s countless coal mines, which produce the bulk of China’s energy but are also […]
Dollar plunges to record low against euro
LONDON, Oct 29, 2007 (AFP) – The dollar plummeted to a record low against the euro Monday, as the European single currency rose to 1.4438 dollars on speculation US interest rates will be lowered again this week, analysts said. The euro was later trading here at 1.4426 dollars against 1.4391 in New York late on […]
Grounded Airbus delights Indian children
NEW DELHI, Oct 27, 2007 (AFP) – Teenager Josman T.Jose fastens her seat belt, listens to the pilot’s instructions, is served lunch by an air hostess and two hours later jumps out the emergency door of an Airbus.It is the first time the schoolgirl has seen an aircraft from inside and her excitement is palpable, […]
‘s poorest march on capital
PALWAL, India, Oct 27, 2007 (AFP) – A serpentine column of India’s poorest of the poor is moving across cities, determined to reclaim their land taken over in the name of the country’s heady economic boom. About 25,000 landless farmers, many of them using plastic bags for shoes, are on the final leg of a […]