Category: Other
Human Capital
May 30, 2007 (LBO) – The Securities and Exchange has hired three new specialists to push asset management, debt markets and communications, the regulator said Wednesday. Namal Kamalgoda has been appointed as, Director, Capital Market Development – Asset Management. He was chief investment officer at Eagle NDB Fund Management Company which had 18 billion rupees […]
US to propose Zoellick to head World Bank
WASHINGTON, May 29, 2007 (AFP) – US President George W. Bush was on Wednesday to name administration pointman Robert Zoellick to head the World Bank, replacing Paul Wolfowitz, who quit over a favoritism scandal involving his bank employee girlfriend. The naming of the steady, stalwart Zoellick was meant to end weeks of upheaval in the […]
Tamil wins another battle for equality with Hindi in India
CHENNAI, India, May 30, 2007 (AFP) – Tamil, one of India’s ancient Dravidian languages, is to have its own government-funded institute, Tamil Nadu state’s chief minister said.The federal government has agreed to set up the International Institute of Classical Tamil Language in the state capital Chennai, where language politics have often boiled over. M. Karunanidhi […]
Caught
JAKARTA, May 29, 2007 (AFP) – Two Sri Lankans and an Indonesian have been arrested in Jakarta for allegedly running a people smuggling operation to Australia, a senior police officer said Tuesday.The three are suspected of organising an operation earlier this year that saw the Australian navy intercept a boat with 83 Sri Lankans in […]
‘s former food and drug regulator sentenced to death
BEIJING, May 29, 2007 (AFP) – A Beijing court sentenced the former head of China’s food and drug administration to death Tuesday on corruption charges, state media reported.Zheng Xiaoyu, the former director of China’s State Food and Drug Administration, was convicted for taking bribes and dereliction of duty, the Xinhua news agency said.The sentence was […]
Sri Lankan listed oil palm firm mulls expansion; warns of drought impact on crop
May 28, 2007 (LBO) – A subsidiary of Sri Lanka’s Carsons group with oil palm estates in south east Asia is considering expansion and downstream ventures but warns that recent drought could affect future crop. “Here again, planting was delayed owing to drought conditions,” Selvanathan said. The Shalimar (Malay) Estate Company Ltd., a unit of […]
Venezuela TV station seizure sends chilling message of totalitarian rule
CARACAS, May 28, 2007 (AFP) – Despite protests by democracy activists, Venezuela’s oldest television network went off the air at midnight Sunday, victim of a fresh push by President Hugo Chavez to tighten his grip over the nation’s media. RCTV screens went black after the station broadcast previously-recorded images of its teary-eyed employees singing the […]
Law Club
May 27, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has been re-elected to the United National Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) for a six year period, the foreign ministry said Sunday. The next meeting of the UNCITRAL will be held in Vienna, Austria from June 25 to July 12. Other countries elected to represent the Asian […]
WTO proposes lower tariffs on agricultural products from poor nations
GENEVA, May 26, 2007 (AFP) – The World Trade Organisation on Saturday proposed sharply lowering tariffs on some agricultural products from poorer countries in exchange for them reducing trade protection measures. The WTO’s chief agriculture negotiator, Crawford Falconer, said the new proposal could allow for progress in the stalled Doha round of negotiations aimed at […]
Extradition Quest
May 26, 2007 (LBO) – The Philippine government has asked for arrested operators of the Questnet referral schemes in which tens of thousands of poor Asians and Africans have lost money, to be formally extradited, reports said. Earlier in May, the public face of the Quest International (QI) group, Vijayeswaran Vijayaratnam, director Joseph Luis Tomacruz […]
Brent hits nine-month high, New York light sweet low
NEW YORK, May 24, 2007 (AFP) – Crude oil prices closed mixed Thursday as the market focused on healthy stocks of crude in the United States and the contested nuclear program of oil producer Iran. New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, dropped 1.59 dollars to end at 64.18 […]
Sri Lanka tea industry mulls futures market
MAY 23, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea industry and the Securities and Exchange Commission are considering introducing a tea futures market as part of efforts to develop the island’s capital markets and provide an opportunity for tea producers to hedge risks.“It’s a bet on what tea prices will do ” so the producer can hedge his […]