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Money printing, 2,200% inflation keep 80% of Zimbabweans in poverty
HARARE, May 13, 2007 (AFP) – Zimbabwean cashier Cosmas Gwizo does not look forward to pay day.For the 43-year-old earning 500,000 Zimbabwean dollars a month (about 2,000 dollars) the receipt of his salary cheque is a painful rather than joyous occasion. “Each time I receive my pay cheque I start scratching my head trying to […]
‘s inflation 3.0% in April, down from March
BEIJING, May 14, 2007 (AFP) – China’s consumer price inflation eased in April, rising 3.0 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday. The index, a key indicator of consumer inflation in the world’s fourth-largest econnomy, was down from a year-on-year rise of 3.3 percent in March. Compared with March, consumer […]
Swiss central banker sees more rate hikes, to keep inflation below one percent
GENEVA, May 13, 2007 (AFP) – Further increases in Swiss interest rates are still on the cards, one of Switzerland’s central bankers said Sunday, while also praising the management of the euro currency.The eurozone is Switzerland’s biggest foreign trade market. Thomas Jordan, who joined the board of the Swiss National Bank on May 1, told […]
Kate Webb, legendary Asian correspondent, dies
SYDNEY, May 13, 2007 (AFP) – Through wars, disasters and coups, foreign correspondent Kate Webb chronicled the turbulent birth of modern Asia, becoming a media legend who had the eerie experience of reading her own obituary. Webb, who died of cancer on Sunday at 64, covered many of Asia’s seminal events of the last four […]
Moody leaves Sri Lanka to coach Western Australia
PERTH, Australia, May 14, 2007 (AFP) – Tom Moody has quit as coach of Sri Lanka’s cricket squad to take over at Western Australia next season, the WA Cricket Association said here Monday.WACA president Dennis Lillee said Moody, a former Australian international cricketer, will take over coaching Western Australia on July 1. Moody, who led […]
Sri Lanka says eight rebels killed in fresh violence
COLOMBO, May 14, 2007 (AFP) – Eight Tamil Tiger rebels have been killed in fresh clashes in Sri Lanka’s embattled northern and eastern regions, the defence ministry said Monday.Security forces killed seven rebels in the northern district of Vavuniya late Sunday in a gunbattle along their defence lines, the ministry said. In a separate confrontation […]
Big Bucks
May 13, 2007 (LBO) – State-owned Bank of Ceylon is on a path to increase private sector lending and strengthen its capital to keep pace with a growing loan book, officials said. . The Bank of Ceylon, Sri Lanka’s largest bank has been a principal financier of the government but in the last quarter private […]
High Standards
May 13, 2007 (LBO) – The Chillies advertising awards in Sri Lanka finished Saturday with no winners among the finalists but Triad Advertising agency clinched two gold awards, unofficially making them the winners. The statement said Leo Burnett was able to win awards across a wide range of categories for a diverse group of clients, […]
Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, five rebels killed
May 13, 2007 (AFP) – Unidentified gunmen shot dead a Buddhist monk in eastern Sri Lanka Sunday as security forces killed five Tamil Tiger rebels elsewhere, officials said. Monk Sandungamuwe Nandaratana was shot dead at a temple about 260 kilometres (162 miles) northeast of Colombo, military officials said, adding that the attackers had escaped. The […]
Foreign aid cut fear as Sri Lanka fails on human rights
May 13, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s failure to share power with minority Tamils and put an end to extra-judicial killings have raised prospects of more aid cuts to the embattled island, officials and diplomats say. A top US envoy left Colombo on Thursday after castigating the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse for not delivering […]