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Tele Connect
Mar 10, 2008 (LBO) – The sale of an equity stake in Sri Lanka Telecom held by Japan’s NTT to Malaysia’s Usaha Tegas group could go ahead, the island’s supreme court has ruled, a reporter at the court said. The UT group was initially expected to purchase 25 percent of the stock with NTT keeping […]
Bangladesh scraps bank sale after Saudi prince fails to pay
DHAKA, March 10, 2008 (AFP) – Bangladesh has scrapped a deal to sell its fourth-largest bank to a Saudi prince for 458 million dollars after he failed to make any payment, the country’s finance minister said.Prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman won the bid to take a 93 percent stake in Rupali Bank in […]
‘s death
PANAJI, India, March 10, 2008 (AFP) – Police in the Indian resort state of Goa Sunday arrested one of three men held in connection with the murder of a British teenager whose partially naked body was found on a beach last month.The man has been identified as 29-year-old Samsung D’Souza, an Indian working at a […]
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 […]