Category: Other
Singapore to invest almost 10 billion dollars in troubled UBS
SINGAPORE, Dec 10, 2007 (AFP) – The Singapore government’s investment arm announced Monday that it will inject almost 10 billion US dollars into Swiss bank UBS, its largest ever investment in a company.The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) said it would inject 11 billion Swiss francs (9.74 billion US dollars) into UBS, which on […]
Developing world must be able to lift emissions: Nobel winner
NEW DELHI, Dec 8, 2007 (AFP) – Developing nations must be allowed to boost carbon emissions to lift millions out of poverty, says the head of the Nobel prize-winning climate change panel slated to formally get the award on Monday.“If you have the case of India, a half a billion people who do not even […]
Still On
Dec 09, 2007 (LBO) – A Saudi Arabian court has begun to review a case where a Sri Lankan teenaged maid was accused of murdering an infant in her care, but a decision may take more time, a report from the desert kingdom said. . The lawyer of the maid Rizana Nafeek was quoted by […]
Clemency
Dec 09, 2007 (LBO) – A Saudi Arabian court has begun reviewing the case of a Sri Lankan housemaid condemned to death for killing a four-month-old infant in her care. The Middle Eastern English language daily Arab News reported Sunday that a three-member court, headed by Dawadmi High Court chief judge Abdullah Abdul Aziz Al-Rosaimi, […]
Reducing carbon emissions: the options
NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Dec 9, 2007 (AFP) – Here are the main options for tackling greenhouse-gas emissions, listed by order of feasibility: – ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Improve energy efficiency in transport, buildings, appliances, lighting. ADVANTAGE: Can make big, early gains in braking growth in carbon pollution.DISADVANTAGE: Tougher standards may run into opposition from transport lobby, consumer […]
No Sri Lanka eco clearance for Booker Tate project yet
Dec 09, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has not given environmental clearance for a controversial sugar project yet and its first application for approval has been rejected, a top official said. . A cane cultivation project in Bibile, in the Uva province of Sri Lanka, has drawn heavy fire from environmental activists and academics who […]
Clemency
RIYADH, Dec 8, 2007 (AFP) – An appeal hearing was set to take place on Saturday in the case of a Sri Lankan housemaid condemned to death in Saudi Arabia, the Arab News reported.A three-judge panel will hear the appeal of Rizana Nafeek, who was convicted of strangling to death her employer’s four-month old baby […]
Best Behaviour
Dec 08, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s corporate sector has launched an initiative to encourage employers to adopt a code of conduct to combat sexual harassment in the workplace about which complaints are on the rise. Guidelines formulated by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) aim to promote […]
US stock markets gain as rate cut sensed
NEW YORK, Dec 7, 2007 (AFP) – Wall Street enters the home stretch of 2007 in an upbeat mood as investors brace for a meeting of the Federal Reserve which is widely expected to yield a third straight cut in US interest rates. Bond prices weakened in the past week as investors moved into stocks. […]
In-flight e-mail makes US debut on JetBlue with Yahoo
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 7, 2007 (AFP) – JetBlue will begin offering passengers free e-mail access on one of its airplanes next week as Internet connections that have become ubiquitous on the ground begin taking to the skies.Industry analysts expect 2008 to be the year in-flight Internet begins to take-off. An Airbus-320 passenger jet called “BetaBlue” […]
‘s tape destruction
WASHINGTON, Dec 8, 2007 (AFP) – The White House faced another clash with Congress Saturday after furious Democratic lawmakers demanded a probe into the CIA’s destruction of tapes showing harsh interrogations of captured Al-Qaeda operatives.The Central Intelligence Agency’s admission that it destroyed tapes of at least two interrogations in 2005, at a time when Congress […]
Japan cuts third-quarter growth estimate
TOKYO, Dec 7, 2007 (AFP) – Japan’s economy grew at an annualised pace of 1.5 percent in the third quarter of 2007, much less than an initial estimate of a 2.6 percent expansion, the government said Friday. But the world’s second-largest economy saw a recovery after shrinking in the second quarter, buoyed by brisk exports […]