Category: Other
‘s former food and drug regulator sentenced to death
BEIJING, May 29, 2007 (AFP) – A Beijing court sentenced the former head of China’s food and drug administration to death Tuesday on corruption charges, state media reported.Zheng Xiaoyu, the former director of China’s State Food and Drug Administration, was convicted for taking bribes and dereliction of duty, the Xinhua news agency said.The sentence was […]
Sri Lankan listed oil palm firm mulls expansion; warns of drought impact on crop
May 28, 2007 (LBO) – A subsidiary of Sri Lanka’s Carsons group with oil palm estates in south east Asia is considering expansion and downstream ventures but warns that recent drought could affect future crop. “Here again, planting was delayed owing to drought conditions,” Selvanathan said. The Shalimar (Malay) Estate Company Ltd., a unit of […]
Venezuela TV station seizure sends chilling message of totalitarian rule
CARACAS, May 28, 2007 (AFP) – Despite protests by democracy activists, Venezuela’s oldest television network went off the air at midnight Sunday, victim of a fresh push by President Hugo Chavez to tighten his grip over the nation’s media. RCTV screens went black after the station broadcast previously-recorded images of its teary-eyed employees singing the […]
Law Club
May 27, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has been re-elected to the United National Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) for a six year period, the foreign ministry said Sunday. The next meeting of the UNCITRAL will be held in Vienna, Austria from June 25 to July 12. Other countries elected to represent the Asian […]
WTO proposes lower tariffs on agricultural products from poor nations
GENEVA, May 26, 2007 (AFP) – The World Trade Organisation on Saturday proposed sharply lowering tariffs on some agricultural products from poorer countries in exchange for them reducing trade protection measures. The WTO’s chief agriculture negotiator, Crawford Falconer, said the new proposal could allow for progress in the stalled Doha round of negotiations aimed at […]
Extradition Quest
May 26, 2007 (LBO) – The Philippine government has asked for arrested operators of the Questnet referral schemes in which tens of thousands of poor Asians and Africans have lost money, to be formally extradited, reports said. Earlier in May, the public face of the Quest International (QI) group, Vijayeswaran Vijayaratnam, director Joseph Luis Tomacruz […]
Brent hits nine-month high, New York light sweet low
NEW YORK, May 24, 2007 (AFP) – Crude oil prices closed mixed Thursday as the market focused on healthy stocks of crude in the United States and the contested nuclear program of oil producer Iran. New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, dropped 1.59 dollars to end at 64.18 […]
Sri Lanka tea industry mulls futures market
MAY 23, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea industry and the Securities and Exchange Commission are considering introducing a tea futures market as part of efforts to develop the island’s capital markets and provide an opportunity for tea producers to hedge risks.“It’s a bet on what tea prices will do ” so the producer can hedge his […]
Tax Loophole
May 22, 2007 (LBO) – The new company law gives companies a better chance to avoid paying tax on investment income, a corporate law expert said Tuesday. A company’s distribution of shares to shareholders may be treated as a dividend as it can distribute dividends only out of profit under Section 60 of the Companies […]
Bush seeking US citizen to succeed Wolfowitz
WASHINGTON, May 21, 2007 (AFP) – US President George W.Bush intends to nominate a US citizen to succeed Paul Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank, the White House said Monday. “We intend that the next World Bank president would be an American,” spokesman Tony Fratto said after Bush returned from a long weekend on […]
US to power up global interest in nuclear energy
WASHINGTON, May 21, 2007 (AFP) – The United States sought to boost nuclear power in the global energy mix Monday, by hosting China, France, Japan and Russia at the first meeting of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.There are 100 nuclear power plants in operation across America producing about 20 percent of US power. President George […]
Oil exporting Iran prints enough money to drive inflation to 17%
TEHRAN, May 20, 2007 (AFP) – Iran’s inflation is set to rise to 17 percent this year with money supply growth continuing to soar, the central bank said on Sunday.A rate of 17 percent inflation in the Iranian year to March 20 would mark a 3.5 percentage point rise from the year earlier, amid rising […]