Category: Other
Treasury in talks with ADB to structure donor backed bonds for plantations
August 14 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is in talks with the Asian Development Bank to structure donor backed bonds to encourage private investment into the plantation sector, top officials said Monday. “We are talking to the Asian Development Bank to see if long term bonds guaranteed by foreign funding can be worked out for the plantation […]
Harrods designs Ceylon teas from Sri Lanka
Aug 11 (LBO) – A top UK department store says it is expanding its selection of up market Ceylon Teas by introducing more custom made designer teas to tempt the palate of its customers. A soon to be introduced Harrods “Eagle Nest” tea is manually hand rolled to exacting specifications of the posh Knightsbridge department store. […]
Passengers face delays, extra checks at Asian airports
HONG KONG, Aug 11, 2006 (AFP) – Passengers at Asian airports faced delays and were stopped from taking electronics and liquids on board US-bound flights Friday as security was stepped up after British police foiled an alleged plot to blow up planes over the Atlantic Ocean. Additional dog squads and bomb disposal and detection teams […]
PCs still changing the world at 25 years old
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 10, 2006 (AFP) – Personal computers have transformed society in a mere 25 years and they are just getting warmed up.In the short time since IBM launched its pioneering PC on August 12, 1981, teenagers have gone from hiding secrets in locked diaries to baring all on social networking websites such as […]
Coke, Pepsi struggle to find fizz in India
NEW DELHI, Aug 10, 2006 (AFP) – With a billion-plus people in a hot climate and a booming economy, India should be a choice market for Coke and Pepsi — but the two cola giants have instead faced a very bumpy local ride. The brands are in the midst of a publicity nightmare after an […]
British bomb plot causes worldwide airline chaos
LONDON, Aug 10, 2006 (AFP) – Air travel to and from Britain was plunged into chaos on Thursday in the wake of the discovery of a plot to blow up airlines on transatlantic flights. Many airlines said they were cancelling all flights to Britain and to the epicentre of the threat, London Heathrow, one of […]
‘s Union Bank
LONDON, Aug 9, 2006 (AFP) – Standard Chartered, the Britain-based emerging markets bank, said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy 80.86 percent of Pakistan’s Union Bank for 413 million dollars (321 million euros). “The acquisition of Union Bank will make Standard Chartered the sixth largest bank in Pakistan by market share of assets and […]
‘s road accidents: report
NEW DELHI, Aug 8, 2006 (AFP) – India accounts for six percent of global road accidents but has only one percent of the world’s vehicles, a safety research consultant said Tuesday.The country has the world’s fourth highest annual tally of road accidents, said Jeya Padmanaban of consultancy JP Research, according to a Press Trust of […]
” taxes
WASHINGTON, Aug 7, 2006 (AFP) – If you had a billion dollars in the bank and lived a jet-set lifestyle out of a string of luxury homes filled with valuable artworks, your taxes would be pretty hefty, right?Well not entirely, according to a Senate probe that has examined hundreds of documents and issued 74 subpoenas […]
‘s play at major US computer hackers conference
LAS VEGAS, Aug 7, 2006 (AFP) – Locks commonly used at homes and businesses worldwide were so easy to pick that children could do it, computer hackers practicing the skill were shown on Sunday.In a Las Vegas casino meeting room devoted to the art of lock picking for the course of a three-day DefCon hackers […]
‘ heel of computer security: hackers, pros
LAS VEGAS, Aug 7, 2006 (AFP) – The most vexing weakness in computer security is not in the hardware or the software, it is in the people who use the machines, according to top hackers and cyber safety specialists.“It really is more of a human problem than a technical problem,” Dan Kaminisky of Dox Para […]
”’ cash reforms rapped
HARARE, Aug 6, 2006 (AFP) – Zimbabweans last week flooded banks to hand in old notes after the central bank slashed three zeroes from the local currency, but analysts said the new money would not provide relief from record inflation. Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank slashed three zeroes from its currency last Monday to help consumers battling […]