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Blast in Colombo, Sri Lanka
December 01, (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s defence secretary has escaped a suicide assassination bid, the centre for national security said.Lakshaman Hulugalle, head of the national centre for media told the state television that the convoy of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the brother of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse had been targetted. At least one security […]
Sri Lanka micro lenders on rating watch over merger move with 30-pct dud loan state bank
December 01 (LBO) – Six Sri Lankan regional development banks were put on a ratings watch on Friday, rating agency Fitch Lanka said, following government plans to merge with a newly set up state bank with 30 percent dud loans. Fitch intends to resolve the Rating Watches within a period of six to nine months […]
‘s tea companies warn of millions in losses due to trade union action
Nov 30, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantation companies warned Thursday of millions of rupees in losses due to trade union action on estates, as wage talks reach breaking point. Sri Lanka has over 250,000 estate workers, with the island among the world’s top producers’ at over 300 million kilos of black tea produced a year. […]
Potential Problem
Nov 30, 2006 (LBO) – Estimated 5.5 to six million people in South Asia is infected with AIDS which have become a severe epidemic but the HIV epidemic remains at a low level in Sri Lanka, the World Bank said Thursday. South Asia is a heterogeneous and highly mobile region the report says, where most […]
Zimbabwe finance minister predicts growth, inflation fall
HARARE, Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s finance minister predicted Thursday marginal economic growth in the coming year and that the country’s four-figure inflation rate would dip to 350 percent as he presented the budget for 2007. “The economy is expected to grow marginally by between 0.5 percent and one percent in 2007,” Herbert Murerwa […]
Indian economy grows faster than expected, sparks interest rate concerns
NEW DELHI, Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – India’s economy grew a faster-than-expected 9.2 percent in the second quarter to September, official data showed Thursday, prompting concerns that overheating will require higher interest rates.The Indian rupee weakened Wednesday against the dollar to 44.74 from 44.65 after the data was announced, and strengthened against the euro to […]
‘s environment, lifestyle
PANAJI, India, Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – The once low-budget tourist haven of Goa is facing a crisis, environmentalists say, as developers force up land prices and a tourism boom threatens the delicate coastal ecology.“As a result our forest cover, which was 34 percent in 2001 and projected to increase to 40 percent, has now […]
‘s peace envoy to meet warring parties in Sri Lanka
Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – A top Norwegian peace broker arrived in Sri Lanka Thursday, a diplomat said, as Tamil Tiger separatists insisted government forces have killed off an Oslo-brokered ceasefire. Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict has claimed at least 60,000 lives since it began in 1972. Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer was to hold separate talks with […]
Sri Lanka bloodshed to worsen, warns Crisis Group
Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s peace initiative was flawed from the start and the island now faces an immediate prospect of more violence, the International Crisis Group (ICG) warns.The conflict resolution experts note however in a new study received here Thursday that neither government forces nor the Tamil rebels appear able to defeat […]
Five killed in Sri Lanka as train hits truck
Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – Two soldiers and three policemen were killed Thursday when their pick-up truck was hit by a commuter train at an unprotected level crossing near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, police said.Sri Lanka has stepped up security across the country after Tamil Tiger rebels announced Monday that they had no option […]