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WASHINGTON, July 19, 2007 (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund is revising its economic growth forecasts amid a “global boom,” the IMF chief economist said Thursday, suggesting a bump up in official estimates. “We were criticized for being optimistic at the time of our spring forecast,” Simon Johnson told reporters, referring to an IMF April […]
Asia overtaking US as biggest auto market: GM
CHICAGO, July 19, 2007 (AFP) – Asia is overtaking the United States as the largest market for auto sales, but the US will remain the more lucrative market for the next decade, a senior executive at General Motors said Thursday. Overall industry sales in the Asia Pacific region are expected to surpass North America for […]
Fresh Sri Lanka fighting kills 12
July 20, 2007 (AFP) – Government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels were locked in heavy combat in northwest Sri Lanka on Friday, leaving at least 12 people killed on both sides, the defence ministry said.The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched the pre-dawn attack on army defences in Mannar district, the ministry said […]
Sri Lanka given Japanese aid to clear mines
July 20, 2007 (AFP) – Japan said Friday it was giving 3.2 million dollars to clear land mines in Sri Lanka even as government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels stepped up attacks against each other. The money will go to five international mine clearing charities and help civilians to go back to their homes in […]
Sri Lanka, India reach deal on mutual professional recognition
July 20 (LBO) – Sri Lanka and India has recognized each other’s professional standards, organizations senior official negotiating a wide-ranging trade and services agreement with India said. “We have almost finalized the text of the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA),” Manel de Silva, Director-General of Commerce of the Commerce Department, told LBO in an interview. […]
‘s expensive social safety net at crossroads
July 20, 2007 (LBO) – Tiny homesteads, tea gardens on hillocks nestled above rain fed paddyfields lining the roads, are typical of the rural village of Omantha, where its poor inhabitants depend on agriculture for a living. . The village, in the Kalutara district, is just 50 kilometers of Sri Lanka’s commercial capital Colombo and […]
Aborted Flights
July 19, 2007 (AFP) – Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said Thursday that it was pulling out of Sri Lanka, citing a sharp drop in tourist traffic to the tropical island due to ongoing fighting between government and rebel forces. Sri Lanka’s 26-billion-dollar economy earned 130.8 million dollars from tourism between January and April, a 15 […]
Machine Time
July 19, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s construction industry is looking for foreign partners to set up a machinery leasing company that would be especially useful for the large number of small and medium firms that dominate the sector. “The CCI is looking at having machinery and equipment to service the needs not only of […]
‘s Malinga to bowl apparel brand
July 19, 2007 (LBO) – One of Sri Lanka’s top clothing exporters, Brandix Lanka, has hired fashionable fast bowler Lasith Malinga as the group’s ‘brand ambassador’. Malinga, whose tinted curls and explosive round arm action made him a star attraction at the 2007 Cricket World Cup, will promote its corporate social responsibility and human resources […]
New revelations of gruesome India girl killings
NEW DELHI, July 19, 2007 (AFP) – India’s unwanted baby girls have been drowned in milk, burned alive in sealed mud pots or fed milk laced with poisonous seeds, but these days it is much easier to kill them in the womb.These are some of the chilling anecdotes in a new book on how a […]