Category: Other
Contempt Order
Sept 10, 2007 (LBO) – The head of Sri Lanka’s consumer authority has been ordered to resign by the Supreme Court over the implementation of a previous order on cooking gas pricing. . Updated Consumer Authority Chairman Sarath Wijesinghe was told he was not fit to take up any government post, an official said. Witnesses […]
Asia-Pacific summit pumps up brothel business
SYDNEY, Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) – Sydney brothels have had to import prostitutes from other states to get over a demand hump caused by security agents and delegates attending an Asia-Pacific summit, an industry spokesman said Sunday. APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua […]
Sly Workers
Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan authorities have launched a crackdown on Indian nationals who arrive as tourists and stay on to work, an immigration official said Sunday.Eight Indian men were arrested Friday in the south of the island, where they had been employed as farm workers, the official said, adding that all had […]
Britain sued over colonial rule and mistreatment of Indians in Malaysia
WASHINGTON, Sept 8, 2007 (AFP) – A Malaysian human rights lawyer has filed a four trillion dollar lawsuit against Britain for alleged atrocities suffered by Indians whose forefathers were brought as indentured laborers to Malaysia during colonial rule. Among them were South Africa, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji and Mauritius, he said. […]
Bunker Battle
Sept 08, 2007 (LBO) – A rival bunker supplier has joined the court action challenging the sale of Sri Lanka’s then-bunkering monopoly, Lanka Marine Services, which has now emerged as one of John Keells Holdings main money-spinners. Reza in the affidavit also said that the company believes the LMS privatization was fraudulent and not done […]
Zimbabwe allows another price hike of goods, services
HARARE, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) – The Zimbabwean government has authorised all retailers to raise prices by 20 percent, in a bid to to ease widespread shortages, reports said Friday.The price hike comes two weeks after government allowed retailers and manufacturers to increase prices on basic commodities such as sugar, cooking oil, chicken and soap. […]
US says Indian Ocean wargames not aimed at China, Iran
ON BOARD THE USS KITTY HAWK, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) – A top US navy commander involved in Indian Ocean wargames said Friday the exercises were not aimed at sending a message to either China or Iran.“We are flexible enough to learn the different ways from the international navies and it is easy for us […]
Sentenced
Sept 07, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan court Friday sentenced four directors of an export company that went bust several years ago to jail and imposed fines in the country’s first ever securities fraud conviction. They were charged with non-disclosure of material information of a price-sensitive nature. Colombo’s Fort Magistrate’s court sentenced the four […]
ECB, Bank of England hold rates steady, dollar weakens
NEW YORK, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) – The dollar weakened against the euro and other currencies Wednesday after the European Central Bank opted to keep borrowing costs on hold amid financial market and credit jitters. The pound was being traded at 2.0237 dollars, up from 2.0204 a day earlier. The ECB left open the option […]
Australian drought threatens to push wheat prices higher
SYDNEY, (AFP) – Drought could wipe out Australia’s wheat crop despite expectations that the country’s worst dry spell for a century was easing, Trade Minister Warren Truss warned Tuesday.“In many parts of Australia there has been some relief and a quite large wheat crop was planted,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific […]
Money printing Zimbabwe devalues currency by a hundred fold
HARARE, 2007 (AFP) – The Zimbabwean government on Thursday announced a devaluation of its currency against the US dollar by more than a hundred fold in a bid to enhance the country’s revenue, marred by hyperinflation. “The reserve bank of Zimbabwe will adjust the exchange rate applicable to all purchases and sales of foreign exchange […]
Greenspan says latest turbulence similar to previous bubbles: report
WASHINGTON, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) – Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan compares the current financial market turbulence to prior crises that have engulfed stock markets and the US economy, the Wall Street Journal said Friday.Greenspan, who stepped down as Fed chairman in January 2006, compared the present turmoil to prior crises triggered by hedge […]