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Growing pains for Maldives as radicals raise tensions
MALE, Oct 31, 2007 (AFP) – The Maldives has built South Asia’s most successful economy based on luxury tourism, but the atoll nation is now facing religious tensions as it undergoes a difficult transition to democracy.The tranquillity of the paradise holiday destination was shattered in September when Islamic radicals set off a home-made bomb, wounding […]
‘s Ambani not so rich after all, says company
NEW DELHI, Oct 30, 2007 (AFP) – Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries moved swiftly Tuesday to deny a report that company chief Mukesh Ambani has become the world’s richest man thanks to a surge in India’s stock market.The report by the Press Trust of India putting his wealth at 63.2 billion dollars saw newspapers hailing his […]
Sri Lanka want Aussies to fight for Warne-Murali Trophy
Oct 31, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Cricket on Wednesday formally suggested to Australia to mark their upcoming Test series with a trophy named after spin rivals Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan.The country’s governing body said they had written to Cricket Australia that the winner of the two-Test series, opening in Brisbane on November 8, […]
Sri Lanka to withdraw censorship?
Oct 31, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has imposed blanket censorship on war reporting, officials said Wednesday, a week after a devastating attack on its air force, but is reconsidering the move following media protests.The government then came under fire from media rights groups after saying it would like to hire hackers to stop the […]
Sri Lanka issues gazette on war reporting censorship
Oct 31, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka imposed censorship on war reporting a week after Tamil Tiger rebels carried out a devastating attack on the country’s air force, a government notice showed Wednesday.President Mahinda Rajapakse used tough emergency laws to ban the publication of any information on military operations as well as procurements, a gazette […]
Sri Lanka online journalist shot in capital
Oct 31, 2007 (LBO) – A media rights body has called for an open inquiry in to the shooting of an online journalist in Colombo, days after government withdrew the license of a radio station and politicians verbally attacked news websites.Although the Free Media Movement (FMM) does not have any evidence to blame any party […]
” in Sri Lanka: UN expert
GENEVA, Oct 30, 2007 (AFP) – The UN’s top torture expert, Manfred Nowak, said on Tuesday that torture — including beatings, asphyxiation and burning — was becoming “routine” during counter-terrorism operations in Sri Lanka.Violence has surged on the island since a Norwegian-arranged truce began unravelling in December 2005. Nowak said in statement on his mission […]
Sri Lanka inflation jumps in October to 19.6 %
Oct 31, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s inflation rocketed 3.8 percent in October driving consumer prices in the capital Colombo during the past 12-months to 19.6 percent, the government’s statistics office said. At the beginning of the year, the central bank promised to limit inflation to only 10 percent a year, but later admitted it […]
Greener Pastures
Oct 30, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should encourage more workers to seek employment abroad as worker remittances will immensely help economic development while reducing the government’s burden of creating job opportunities, UN officials say. Despite two decades war Sri Lanka has been able to sustain better growth and development as a result of increasing […]
Dialog Downturn
Oct 30, 2007 (LBO) – Consolidated net profits of Sri Lanka’s top celco Dialog Telekom fell 6.9 percent to 2.43 billion rupees, while revenues rose 29 percent to 8.55 billion in the September quarter, the firm’s latest results showed. Losses at its new pay TV division dragged down profits, while at company level profits from […]