Category: Other
India Inc in damage-control mode after billion-dollar fraud scandal
MUMBAI, January 11, 2009 (AFP) – A billion-dollar accounting scandal at one of India’s top outsourcing firms has left the government and financial regulators scrabbling to control the damage.Besides huge losses for investors, the scandal has seriously dented India Inc.‘s reputation for strong corporate governance, often viewed as being a notch above its other Asian […]
Sri Lanka tea prices revive at auction, crop shortfall seen
Jan 09, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices revived at the first auction of the year this week with the industry saying a shortfall in the crop and the forthcoming ‘quality season’ should ensure better earnings in the first quarter.Anil Perera, head of the Private Tea Factory Owners Association, said the shortfall in crop […]
Sri Lankan coconut growers seen giving up cultivation
Jan 08, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan coconut growers are giving up cultivation and selling estates for housing as prices of nuts have fallen too low to be remunerative, a left-wing parliamentarian representing cultivators said.“Coconut cultivators want a stable price that will cover their production costs,” said Namal Karunaratne, convenor of the Joint Organization of […]
Sri Lanka expects record tea crop despite year-end drop
Jan 08, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production and exports fell sharply in November 2008 but export earnings in the 11 months were ahead of the year before and a record annual crop is expected, brokers said.Tea production in November 2008 at 24.6 million kilos was the lowest since 1999 as producers cut output […]
Sri Lanka tea output to November 2008 ahead of year before
Jan 07, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production up to November last year was almost 300 million kilos, well ahead of the year before, according to statistics released by the Sri Lanka Tea Board. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 The increase came mainly […]
Pink iguanas discovered on Galapagos Islands
QUITO, January 6, 2009 (AFP) – A team of Ecuadoran and Italian researchers have discovered a unique species of pink land iguanas living on the Galapagos Islands, the scientist who wrote the report told AFP. “It is surprising to have found in the 21st century a find of this magnitude,” said Washington Tapia, head of […]
Sri Lanka expects big coconut crop after heavy rains
Jan 05, 2009 (LBO) – Heavy rains in Sri Lanka last year should ensure an adequate coconut crop for 2009 that would be enough to meet the demands of both domestic consumers as well as export industry, a senior official said.“In the market at present more than 50-75 million nuts remain unsold.There are excess nuts.” […]
Sri Lanka investors wooed by Maldives
Jan 04, 2009 (LBO) – The new government in the Maldives, in move to privatize the economy, is looking at selling state-owned businesses and becoming more investor friendly, the Maldivian leader said on a visit to Colombo. We come here to open the country for business. We are looking at an ambitious decentralization program. We […]
Japan registers small tsunami waves after Indonesia quakes
TOKYO, January 4, 2009 (AFP) – Japan’s Pacific coast was lapped by minor tsunami waves Sunday after a string of powerful earthquakes off Indonesia, the country’s meteorological agency said.Waves up to 40 centimetres (1.3 feet) reached the Pacific coasts of islands from the Okinawan chain to the main island of Honshu, the agency said. The […]
Coral decline warns of ocean changes: Australian scientists
SYDNEY, January 2, 2009 (AFP) – A sharp slowdown in coral growth on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef since 1990 is a warning sign that precipitous changes in the world’s oceans may be imminent, scientists said Friday. Rising sea temperatures are blamed on global warming caused by the build-up in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases such […]
Ex-PM Sheikh Hasina wins Bangladesh poll: officia
DHAKA, December 30, 2008 (AFP) – Former Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina Wajed has won a landslide victory in general elections, with her party picking up more than 75 percent of seats, an Election Commission official said Tuesday.Commission spokesman S.M. Asaduzzaman told AFP that votes in 295 of the 299 seats had been counted, and Sheikh […]
Sri Lanka tea industry hopes for better prices in January
Dec 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea market is expected to recover somewhat early next year with a long break in the Colombo auctions and production shortfalls in other origins keeping demand buoyant, officials said. The slowdown in tea exports from African origins is also expected to keep demand buoyant. Tea output in Kenya, […]