All Blogs
Sri Lanka bombs Tamil Tiger-held north: ministry
Nov 25, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan war planes bombed the Tamil Tiger-held north Sunday, with the government claiming it destroyed a satellite communications centre but the rebels saying only civilians were killed.The air strike hit an area just outside the rebels’ political capital of Kilinochchi that was “also a clandestine meeting place for LTTE […]
Double Show
Nov 24, 2007 (LBO) – After tax profits of Habib Bank in Sri Lanka almost doubled to 118 million rupees for the nine months ended September 2007, published company statements showed. The bank, a branch of the largest bank in Pakistan, posted an income of 285 million rupees for the three quarters ended September, up […]
India, Malaysia to start FTA talks next year: report
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24, 2007 (AFP) – Malaysia and India will begin negotiating a free trade agreement in January 2008, a report said Saturday. Rafidah Aziz, Malaysia’s trade minister was quoted as saying a bilateral trade pact could boost Malaysia’s exports to India by 1.3 times, or 12 billion dollars, by 2012. The talks would […]
Rudd sweeps to power in Australian landslide
SYDNEY, Nov 25, 2007 (AFP) – Centre-left leader Kevin Rudd stormed to victory in Australia’s election Saturday, ending conservative Prime Minister John Howard’s 11-year rule with pledges to change course on climate change and the Iraq war.Howard, US President George W. Bush’s closest ally in the Iraq war, conceded defeat in Sydney and admitted it […]
Bangladesh Grameen borrowers face debt mountain after cyclone
AMTOLA VILLAGE, Bangladesh, Nov 24, 2007 (AFP) – Nearly 20 years ago when small loans from the Nobel peace prize winning Grameen bank first became available in her village, Bilkis Begum wasted no time in signing up.“The Grameen Bank has made profits from the interest we pay.We have also benefited, (but) I am telling the […]
England Test spots against Sri Lanka up for grabs
Nov 24, 2007 (AFP) – England start their lone first-class match on the Sri Lankan tour here on Sunday hoping to fill the blanks in the Test squad for the series starting in a week’s time. Sri Lanka Cricket XI: Tillekeratne Dilshan (capt), Upul Tharanga, Mahela Udawatte, Malinda Warnapura, Jehan Mubarak, Chamara Kapugedara, Kaushal Silva […]
‘s Tamil Tigers honour fallen cadres
Nov 24, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels have begun commemorating nearly 20,000 of their men and women killed fighting for an independent homeland, the guerrillas said Saturday.There was no immediate reaction from the military to the Tiger losses.The military has admitted losing over 15,000 security personnel in the conflict. The Liberation Tigers […]
Commonwealth defends Pakistan suspension
KAMPALA, Nov 23, 2007 (AFP) – The Commonwealth defended its decision to suspend Pakistan on Friday as leaders from 53-nation grouping opened a summit in Uganda and shifted the focus to climate change and other issues.Islamabad reacted angrily to Thursday’s suspension, describing the decision as “unreasonable and unjustified” and threatened to pull out from the […]
Sri Lankan researcher questions MDGs, notes backward trends
Nov 24, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan researcher has questioned the importance of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) saying they did not reveal reasons for poverty and that some showed an alarming trend in the wrong direction. Priyanthi Fernando, executive director, Centre for Poverty Analysis, said MDGs and other economic indicators were good for making […]
Opening Up
Nov 23, 2007 (LBO) – Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping line and Colombo port’s top customer, advised Sri Lanka to further liberalise the sector for the island to become a logistics hub. Maard said Colombo does have a great opportunity to become a strong logistics hub provided it acted fast to remove existing constraints. “Colombo […]