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Cricket: Sri Lanka contain Proteas after de Kock's 50 GALLE, July 17, 2014 (AFP) - Rookie batsman Quinton de Kock hit a maiden half-century as South Africa moved to 331-7 at lunch on the second day of the first Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday.De Kock, playing his second Test after making his debut in February, hit six fours in his promising 90-ball innings after South Africa resumed at their overnight score of 268-5.

Left-hander Jean-Paul Duminy was batting on 22 with Vernon Philander on three at the break.

It turned out to be a mixed session for the visitors who added 63 runs off 30 overs while losing two wickets in hot and humid conditions at the Galle International Stadium.

Sri Lanka did well to contain the Proteas, especially since they were one bowler short with a split webbing almost ruling out pace spearhead Shaminda Eranga from the rest of the game.

Eranga had bowled just nine overs when he hurt his bowling hand while fielding on day one. The injury required eight stitches, according to the Sri Lankan media officials.

South Africa lost an early wicket when nightwatchman Dale Steyn (three) was foxed by a straighter one from paceman Suranga Lakmal (3-50) that crashed onto his stumps. De Kock, who scored a match-winning 128 in the recent third and final one-dayer against Sri Lanka in Hambantota, carried his form into the match, negotiating both the fast bowlers and spinners with ease.

A smashing cover-drive off slow bowler Dilruwan Perera (3-128) and another through point that raced to the boundary were the highlights of his innings.

But Perera earned his revenge when he sent back De Kock with a sharp turning delivery that the batsman edged in the slips to give Mahela Jayawardene his 198th catch.

Philander took 25 deliveries to get off the mark while Duminy also looked tentative at best during his 81-minute stay at the wicket.

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Hello Kitty designer defends cute character as cat turns 40 HONG KONG, July 17, 2014 (AFP) - The flamboyant designer of Japanese cartoon and global mega-brand Hello Kitty defended the cute cat against new rivals Thursday as the character prepares to celebrate her 40th birthday.Speaking on the sidelines of the Hong Kong Book Fair, Yuko Yamaguchi took the concept of life imitating art to another level, wearing a Kitty-style strawberry dress with dyed auburn hair piled into two buns topped with a red ribbon -- the cat's signature accessory.

As Kitty enters her next decade, she faces increasing competition from more cutting-edge cartoons like Brown and Cony, the bear and rabbit mascots of Tokyo-based messaging app LINE, which has taken Asia by storm in recent months.

But Yamaguchi insisted Kitty would cope with growing older in a digital age.

"There are new cartoon characters that are coming out daily... (but) I think Hello Kitty is the only one that can adapt to the changes in the world," Yamaguchi said.

The moon-faced mouthless white cat first appeared in 1974 on a coin purse in Japan and has since built up a worldwide fanbase, appearing on everything from handbags to sex toys.

Her image is licensed by Japanese company Sanrio, which says on its website that it makes more than US$5 billion dollars in retail sales each year. Hello Kitty is its flagship brand.

Yamaguchi, at the Hong Kong fair to tie in with its new Japan Pavilion, has been the lead designer of Hello Kitty since 1980 and promotes herself as the character's best friend.

"She is very motivated and open and wants to face the future," she says of the character.

There are plenty of detractors of Hello Kitty's sweetness -- entire blogs are dedicated to tearing down the cute icon, with online spoofs depicting her like a horror movie character.

But Yamaguchi insists her appeal can endure.

"There are already three generations of fans that like Hello Kitty, so I hope that there will be more fans like that in the future, like people in a family loving Hello Kitty together," she said.

The main Hello Kitty 40th birthday celebrations will take place later this year, including the first ever fan convention, hosted in Los Angeles at the end of October.

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The Codex Alimentarius Commission, the top global decision-making body for food standards, issued the decision at its ongoing annual meeting in Geneva.

"Arsenic is an environmental contaminant. It occurs naturally and is taken up by plants from the water and soil when they're growing, in particular rice," said World Health Organization food safety coordinator Angelika Tritscher.

The commission set a maximum of 0.02 milligrammes of arsenic per kilo of polished race -- the product that is traded and consumed.

"The main driver for Codex standards is trade. But when we talk about safety standards, the main purpose is clearly to protect the health of consumers," said Tritscher.

Arsenic occurs in the Earth's crust. Some of the heaviest concentrations are in Asia, where rice is a mainstay.

A key problem is paddy fields irrigated with water pumped from shallow wells containing arsenic-rich sediments.

Heavy rice consumption has been found to compound the impact of arsenic in drinking water.

"Since rice is a very important stable food for many countries and many regions of the world, a significant part of the global population is affected," Tritscher said.

Bangladesh has been a top concern, with tens of millions of rural dwellers exposed via wells drilled in the 1970s in "access-to-water" programmes.

Parts of Cambodia, China, India and Vietnam have also been affected.

Long-term exposure can cause cancer and skin lesions, Tritscher said. It is also linked to heart disease, diabetes and damage to the nervous system and brain.

Arsenic rarely grabs headlines in the same way as other food crises.

"It's not like you have an immediate, acute effect like you have with a salmonella outbreak," said Tritscher.

- No safe exposure level -

The 186-nation Codex commission is run by the WHO and fellow UN agency the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Its standards must be set down into national laws to take effect.

"We all expect our food to be safe and of good quality. We don't expect to get sick from our food," said senior FAO food standards officer Tom Heilandt.

The rice decision followed years of research which fed into a policy-making process helmed by China and Japan.

"One of the core principles of Codex standards is that they are science-based," Tritscher said.

"The outcome of the assessments was that you cannot define a safe exposure level. The consequence is that you have to try to reduce exposure as much as possible," she added.

"We operate on the 'alara' principle -- as low as reasonably achievable -- which balances how low you can go without having to discard the majority of the food supply."

The commission also set out ways to reduce arsenic levels.

They include growing crops in raised beds instead of flooded fields, drying out paddies before harvest, and regular checks on water supplies.

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Sri Lanka's Commercial Bank to buy Indra Finance July 17, 2014 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's Commercial Bank of Ceylon said it will acquire Indra Finance, a finance company linked to a top vehicle retailer for 870 million rupees.Indra Finance had 507 million rupees in equity 73 million rupees in profits and 2.0 billion rupees in assets according to the last balance sheet date.

Commercial Bank group had 587 billion rupees in assets.

Indra Finance does not have public deposits and is linked to Indra Traders, a top distributor of unregistered used vehicles imported mainly from Japan.

Analysts say with lower cost funds from a bank, Commercial Bank could potentially gain a bigger share in around the 2,000 vehicles sold each year by Indra with leases averaging three million rupees.

The acquisition is part of a bank and finance company consolidation process mandated by the Central Bank to reduce the amount of finance and banking companies in the country, which is expected to make the sector stronger and easier to regulate.

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Sri Lanka's Piramal Glass sees slight demand pick up July 16, 2014 (LBO) - Piramal Glass Ceylon Plc said domestic demand rose 8 percent in the June 2014 quarter from a year earlier and recurring profits were up with interest costs coming down.Recurring profit after tax rose to 86 million rupees in the June 2014 quarter from 61 million rupees a year earlier, helped by a 41 percent reduction in interest costs to 32 million rupees, the firm said.

The firm reported earnings of 9 cents per share for the quarter. Amid a rise in costs the gross profit margin declined marginally to 21 percent from 22 percent a year earlier.

Last year June quarter profits rose to 358 million rupees helped by a 296 million rupees capital gain from a land sale.

The firm said it had also repaid most of its long term loans.

Sri Lanka is recovering from a balance of payments crisis triggered by a credit bubble worsened by bank loan funded energy subsidies by the state, where an interest rate rise was resisted by the Central Bank through sterilized forex sales.

The subsequent adjustments which also involved currency depreciation and a rate hike, hit domestic demand and credit, slowing activity.

Revenues rose to 1.244 million rupees from 1223 million rupees despite a fall in export sales by 19 percent to 251 million rupees.

The firm said exports to India had been hurt for several quarters due to currency depreciation in that country but were now recovering.

Domestic demand had also begun to pick, Piramal Glass said rising 8 percent to 994 million rupees.

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Sri Lanka trade deficit down amid weak credit in May July 14, 2014 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's exports rose 11.1 percent to 882.1 million US dollars in May 2014 from a year earlier led by apparel exports that rose 14.5 percent to 365.1 million US dollars, official data showed.Agriculture exports rose 21.1 percent to 239.9 million US dollars with tea up 9.7 percent to 140.6 million US dollars.

Imports fell 17.6 percent to 1,275.5 million US dollars with investment goods down 25.2 percent to 279.9 million US dollars and fuel imports down 35.4 percent to 208.4 million US dollars.

Rising exports would usually trigger more imports, but Sri Lanka is currently experiencing weak credit growth resulting savings of some market participants not being spent through the banking system.

In the five months to May exports rose 15.7 percent to 4.4 billion US dollars and imports fell 1.5 percent to 7,467.9 million US dollars.

The trade deficit was down 19.3 percent to 3,014.7 million US dollars.

Sri Lanka has a trade deficit because domestic agents spend dollars flowing from outside the merchandise trade account especially such as from remittances (exports of labour) and borrowings (exports of debt).

The central bank said worker remittances rose 10.5 percent to 2.7 billion US dollars and tourism earnings were up 35.1 percent to 901 million US dollars. Gross inflows to government were up 33.3 percent to 3,201 million US dollars.

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China's growth accelerates to 7.5-pct in second quarter: govt BEIJING, July 16, 2014 (AFP) - China's economic growth hit 7.5 percent year-on-year in April-June, official data showed Wednesday, ahead of expectations as the world's second-largest economy was boosted by government stimulus.The second-quarter figure announced by the National Bureau of Statistics compared with growth of 7.4 percent in the previous three months and exceeded the median forecast of 7.4 percent in a survey of 17 economists by AFP.

"Generally speaking, China's economy showed good momentum of stable and moderate growth in the first half-year," the NBS said in a statement.

"However we should keep in mind that the domestic and international economic environment is still complicated and the national economy still faces many challenges."

The NBS also said China's economy expanded 7.4 percent in the first half of the year.

The results came after Beijing introduced a series of policies in April in response to concerns over slowing growth, including tax breaks for small enterprises, targeted infrastructure spending and the encouragement of lending in rural areas and to small companies.

Separately, the NBS said China's industrial production, which measures output at factories, workshops and mines, rose 9.2 percent year-on-year in June.

Retail sales, a key indicator of consumer spending, increased 12.4 percent in the same month, while fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, rose 17.3 percent on-year in the first six months.

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