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‘s roots under the hammer in New York
NEW YORK, Dec 17, 2007 (AFP) – Arguably the most important document ever to be auctioned goes on sale Tuesday when the Magna Carta, an 800-year-old English royal manuscript, goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s in New York. The royal charter, dated 1297 and bearing the wax seal of King Edward I, enshrined the rights […]
Money printing Iran blames critics for 19.1-pct inflation; money supply growth 40-pct
TEHRAN, Dec 16, 2007 (AFP) – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday blamed his political rivals and the global economy for stoking inflation in Iran, amid increasing domestic criticism of his economic policies.Prominent moderates such as reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami have publicly lambasted Ahmadinejad for his handling of the economy in recent weeks. In a prime-time […]
Saudi king pardons female rape victim: report
RIYADH, Dec 17, 2007 (AFP) – Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has pardoned a teenage girl sentenced to six months in jail and 200 lashes after being gang raped, Al Jazirah newspaper reported on Monday.The ruling against the 19-year-old girl in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom had attracted widespread international condemnation, including from human rights groups and […]
Red Cross worker abducted and killed in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, Dec 17, 2007 (AFP) – The International Red Cross Monday said one of its workers had been abducted and murdered by unidentified gunmen in Sri Lanka’s tense government-controlled northern Jaffna peninsula.Sooriyakanthy Thavarajah, 40, a volunteer with the Jaffna branch of the Sri Lankan Red Cross, was taken from his home on Friday and his […]
Sri Lanka has no alternative but to print money: minister
Dec 17, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has no alternative but to print money because the government cannot move into a framework of limiting expenditure, a senior minister has said. Speaking to the British Broadcasting Service’s Sinhala language Sandeshaya program, consumer affairs minister Bandula Gunewardene said it had become necessary to print money because the […]
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Dec 16, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to have new laws and make better use of information technology to crackdown on human trafficking and illegal worker migrants, some of whom are under-aged, officials said. Poverty and inadequate laws and co-ordination among government agencies are the reasons large numbers of migrant workers use illegal methods […]
US heading to recession, Morgan Stanley Asia chairman says
SYDNEY, Dec 16, 2007 (AFP) – The US is heading for a recession and the rest of the world would be “dead wrong” to think this will not impact on growing Asian economies, Morgan Stanley senior executive Stephen Roach said Sunday.In an interview with Sky News in Australia, Roach said the US Federal Reserve Bank […]
Cyber dis-intermediation hits banking
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 15, 2007 (AFP) – The Internet is directly connecting investors and borrowers, letting them take banks out of the lending equation and put their money where their hearts and dreams are. People have lent each other more than 100 million dollars through Prosper.com since it launched in February of 2006 and the […]
Toyota to expand output to near 10 million units in 2008: report
TOKYO, Dec 16, 2007 (AFP) – Japanese car giant Toyota Motor Corp. plans to raise its global output to near 10 million units next year, out-distancing its rival General Motors Corp. of the United States, a news report said Sunday. While Toyota is expanding its overseas production facilities, GM has been laying off workers and […]
Cricket returns to Sri Lanka tsunami-hit stadium
GALLE, Sri Lanka, Dec 16, 2007 (AFP) – England and Sri Lanka will mark one of cricket’s most poignant moments when they contest the third Test at the previously tsunami-ravaged Galle International Stadium from Tuesday. The stadium, situated close to the Indian Ocean in the country’s coastal south, was destroyed by the Asian tsunami in […]