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Sri Lanka captain says no need to panic
March 10, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said Monday there was no need to panic following the team’s repeated batting failures in recent one-day internationals.“What we have to remember is that all these guys have made a lot of runs in the past,” said Jayawardene. “Everyone takes responsibility for the failure and […]
Wild elephants hold up Sri Lanka vote: police
March 10, 2008 (AFP) – Security forces armed with loud hailers were deployed in eastern Sri Lanka Monday to drive away wild elephants blocking access to polling booths, police said.Villagers in Wellaveli told the authorities that they were unable to vote at the first local elections in 14 years because a herd of elephants had […]
‘s tense east goes to polls; Pillaiyan votes
VALACHCHENAI, Sril Lanka, March 10, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s volatile eastern district of Batticaloa on Monday held local council elections for the first time in 14 years with an armed Tamil group expected to win the vote.The government has thrown a security blanket over the coastal area, a former hotbed of factional fighting, pouring […]
Bomb kills one, wounds six in Sri Lanka capital
March 10, 2008 (AFP) – A powerful bomb ripped through a commercial area of Sri Lanka’s capital during rush hour on Monday, killing at least one person and wounding six others, police said. The government casualty numbers and those given by the Tigers cannot be independently confirmed as Colombo bars journalists and rights groups from […]
Sri Lanka blast in capital Colombo
Mar 10, 2008 (LBO) – A bomb had exploded in Wellawatte, a southern suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo during the morning rush hour Monday, killing at least one person, police said. The explosion came as residents in Sri Lanka’s East were preparing to go to regional polls. Updated Authorities said at least three persons […]
Sri Lanka foreign reserves move to US$3.2bn
Mar 10, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves had increased to 3.4 billion dollars by March 06 with the monetary authority collecting 366 million dollars since the beginning of the year, the central bank said. The Central Bank had been heavily intervening in the inter-bank foreign exchange market in a bid to keep the […]
Islamic finance expands as wealth grows in oil-rich Gulf
DUBAI, March 9, 2008 (AFP) – The market for Islamic finance and banking is growing rapidly in the oil-rich Gulf thanks to burgeoning wealth and attractive financial instruments.Studies have put the total value of Islamic equity funds in the Gulf region at around 30 billion dollars (19.5 billion euros), said Khaled al-Masri, partner in asset […]
‘s polls shock rattles investors: economists
PENANG, Malaysia, March 9, 2008 (AFP) – Weekend elections that have reshaped Malaysia’s political landscape will reverberate in the stock market and could dampen investor confidence, economists said Sunday. Massive defections by the small but economically dominant Chinese community and once loyalist minority Indians have highlighted resentment towards the Malay-led government’s economic policies, they said. […]
” after switch in accounting system
ANKARA, March 8, 2008 (AFP) – Turkey has changed its method of calculating its gross domestic product, switching to the system used in the Europen Union which it is hoping to join, the country’s statistics office said Saturday. The change to the European System of Accounts (ESA95) has resulted in a steep “rise” in Turkey’s […]
Sri Lanka says 60 killed in heavy weekend battles
March 9, 2008 (AFP) – At least 56 Tamil Tiger rebels and four government troops have been killed in heavy fighting across Sri Lanka’s embattled north over the weekend, the defence ministry said Sunday. Helicopter gunships were deployed against suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) strongholds in the coastal district of Mannar on Saturday, […]