Category:
Sri Lanka tea price fall hits producer margins
Apr 10, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices have fallen after hitting record highs at recent auctions, although still higher than last year, squeezing profit margins of producers faced with rising costs, brokers said. While prices of high grown teas made largely by plantations companies fell, those of low grown teas, cultivated mainly by […]
Justice
Apr 10, 2010 (LBO) – What makes a nation a nation is above all the justice that prevails within that nation. It is justice that creates the bond between the people. Justice connects one with the other. Justice among the people is the one thing that is common to all in a nation if it […]
France heads for a long Indian summer
PARIS, April 10, 2010 (AFP) – India is flavour of the month in France with the spotlight swerving from the fairytale world of maharajas to tribal craftsmen in a buildup to a year-long celebration of one of the world’s richest and most diverse cultures. A recent exhibition of priceless autochrome colour photographs nearly 100 years […]
Sri Lankan ruling party celebrates election landslide
April 10, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s ruling party on Saturday celebrated its landslide victory in the country’s first peacetime parliamentary polls since crushing separatist Tamil rebels, but the opposition cried foul. Government supporters carried national flags as they paraded through the streets and lit firecrackers, despite an official week-long ban on public celebrations. President […]
Australian freeze on asylum seekers may face challenge
SYDNEY, April 10, 2010 (AFP) – Australia’s decision to temporarily block asylum-seekers from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka could face a legal challenge, lawyers said Saturday. On Friday, Canberra announced it would immediately stop taking fresh applications from asylum-seekers from those two countries, as it attempts to thwart people smuggling operations. But the Australian Lawyers Alliance […]
Sri Lanka ex-military chief, TV star, cricketers as lawmakers
Apr 10, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother Basil pulled in 425,861 ‘preferences’ from voters becoming a top draw in a parliamentary poll that also saw an army general, popular cricketers and a television star elected. Sri Lanka’s former military chief Sarath Fonseka now facing a court martial after running for presidential […]
Blocked
SYDNEY, April 9, 2010 (AFP) – Australia on Friday stopped accepting new Afghan and Sri Lankan asylum seekers as it cracks down on people smuggling to thwart an influx of boatpeople, Immigration Minister Chris Evans said. “Today I want to announce that the government is implementing an immediate suspension on the processing of all new […]
India kicks off billion-dollar 3G auction
NEW DELHI, April 9, 2010 (AFP) – India’s mobile phone firms began bidding Friday to provide superfast third-generation (3G) services in the booming cellular market — a sale expected to reap the government billions of dollars. The auction of 3G spectrum will propel India firmly into the Internet era where rolling out landline broadband networks […]
Sri Lanka president says victory is vote for him
April 9, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said Friday his party’s resounding parliamentary victory was a vote of confidence in his socialist economic policies. The president, who was not a candidate at Thursday’s vote, said the landslide for his United People’s Freedom Alliance was a vote for his economic and social vision […]
Sri Lanka cricket stars Jayasuriya, Ranatunga enter parliament
April 9, 2010 (AFP) – Veteran cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya and Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga have won seats in parliament, a local official said Friday. Ranatunga represented the opposition Democratic National Alliance and secured 27,792 votes to enter parliament. He joined politics after retiring from cricket. Jayasuriya contested Thursday’s polls for […]
UNHCR reviewing rules on Afghan and Sri Lankan refugees
GENEVA, April 9, 2010 (AFP) – The UN refugee agency revealed on Friday that it is reviewing the handling of Afghan and Sri Lankan refugees after Australia suspended asylum applications from those states. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) declined however to make a “judgment” on Australia’s move to stop accepting new asylum seekers […]
Sri Lanka ruling party sweeps polls
April 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s ruling party claimed victory Friday as results showed a sweeping victory though re-polling in two districts over poll violence and voter intimidation will delay the official result. The ruling party is tipped to get more than 125 seats in the 225 seat legislature though it may be short […]