Category: Other
Tensions mount as Pakistan shifts troops to Indian border
ISLAMABAD, December 27, 2008 (AFP) – Pakistan has redeployed thousands of troops to the border with India, officials said Friday, in a dramatic escalation of tensions with New Delhi in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.Washington urged the two sides to avoid escalating tensions and said it was touch with both countries. Indian Prime Minister […]
Hope and disappointment four years on from Asian tsunami
LAM TUTUI, December 25, 2008 (AFP) – When the deadly waters of the Asian tsunami smashed into this fishing village in Indonesia’s Aceh province four years ago, not one house was left standing.Now there are too many of them. Recovery has been uneven in the dozen countries hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean disaster, which […]
Sri Lanka desiccated coconut exporters say facing closure with duty hike
Dec 18, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan exporters of desiccated coconut said a recent government hike in edible oil import duty could put them out of business as prices of raw nuts will remain high, making their exports uncompetitive. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 […]
Sri Lanka to import rice despite bumper harvest
Dec 18, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government says it wants a large stock of imported rice to boost stocks, days after the country’s statistics office announced a bumper harvest for the most recent growing season. At that time the ministry of consumer affairs allowed the import of 8,000 tons of rice from Burma […]
Sri Lanka tea farmers say harvests halved
Dec 17, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea growers said their harvests had halved with the collapse in prices at the Colombo auctions, affecting the livelihoods of thousands of small farmers and the local economy. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Chandrasena Wijesinghe, convenor of […]
Oil Deal
Dec 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court barred a senior official from a state-run petroleum retailer over a case involving derivative deals and said the country’s central bank has to probe and solve the case. Supreme Court asked the central bank to file a preliminary probe report brought to court Monday, with the […]
India denies violating Pakistani airspace
NEW DELHI, December 14, 2008 (AFP) – India on Sunday denied any of its aircraft had intruded into Pakistani air space, as tensions ran high between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours over the Mumbai attacks.Pakistan’s air force said Indian jets flew over the Pakistani-administered part of Kashmir and the eastern city of Lahore, both places […]
Myanmar to hold five-day gems auction: state media
YANGON, December 13, 2008 (AFP) – Military-run Myanmar announced Saturday it would hold an auction of precious gems in Yangon early next year, despite economic sanctions banning their international trade.Europe also intensified economic sanctions on the regime after a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters last year, while Washington and human rights groups have urged gem […]
India industrial growth crashes into negative terrain
NEW DELHI, December 12, 2008 (AFP) – India’s industrial growth unexpectedly shrank for the first time in 15 years, data showed Friday, hit by the widening global recession that has weakened demand in Asia’s third-largest economy. Industrial production contracted by 0.4 percent in October after expanding by 12.2 percent in the same month a year […]
Scientific Research
Dec 12, 2008 (LBO) – A Master Debater has once boasted that he normally employs three ploys to subdue his difficult customers. ˜When I find that my opponent is not easily surmountable, I use mathematics, philosophy and religion to subdue him’, he has confessed. ˜Mathematical equations frighten him, philosophical expressions confuse him and religious sayings […]
Major Sumatran quake, tsunami likely in decades: study
SINGAPORE, December 12, 2008 (AFP) – More than one million people on Indonesia’s Sumatra island are vulnerable to a massive earthquake and tsunami potentially more destructive than one which struck four years ago, scientists who released a study Friday warned. The quake and tsunami are likely within the next few decades, they said. On December […]
Sri Lanka tea prices recover slightly after steep fall
Dec 10, 2008 (LBO) – Prices of Sri Lanka’s low grown teas recovered slightly at this week’s auction after plunging for several weeks but it was not clear if they had bottomed out. Teas from the high and mid-grown elevations produced mainly by listed regional plantations companies fell mainly because of lower quality. Forbes & […]