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Indian PM pledges to push for financial reform
LONDON, Oct 9, 2006 (AFP) – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged to push for reform of the banking and insurance sectors, and to raise investment in infrastructure, in an interview published in the Financial Times on Monday.“These are our two biggest priorities,” Singh told the newspaper. His remarks to the newspaper largely echo those […]
Sri Lanka vows to hit back amid artillery duels with Tigers
Oct 9, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government vowed Monday to keep up an offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels until they stopped “provocative actions” as both sides traded artillery fire. After two weeks, the military regained territory lost to the rebels following intense fighting that claimed hundreds of lives of both sides. President Mahinda Rajapakse […]
Ongoing bloodshed paralyses Sri Lanka peace bid
Oct 8, 2006 (AFP) – Foreign aid donors have demanded peace talks in Sri Lanka to avert full-scale war, but the daily bloodshed has reduced broker Norway’s ability to coax rebels and the government to the table, diplomats say.During a visit here last week, Norwegian envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer failed to secure agreement on a venue […]
Sri Lankan soldiers missing after heavy fighting
Oct 8, 2006 (AFP) – Twelve Sri Lankan government soldiers were missing Sunday following fierce fighting with Tamil rebels in the east of the island that left at least seven combatants dead, the defence ministry said. There were conflicting statements on casualties from the government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after […]
Sri Lankan troops preparing major offensive, Tigers say
Oct 8, 2006 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels Sunday accused Sri Lankan government troops of bracing for a fresh offensive around the northern peninsula of Jaffna after both sides suffered losses in a battle elsewhere.The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also called on Norwegian peace monitors to step and check the frontlines, the […]
Records Intact
NEW DELHI, India, Oct 7, 2006 (AFP) – The body representing India’s booming outsourcing business insisted Saturday that the country was a safe place to do business following a British TV news sting showed alleged call centre fraud.Britain’s Channel 4 aired a documentary Thursday purporting to show how the data of thousands of British customers […]
Air Pockets
October 7, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s deadly ethnic conflict is possibly the biggest challenge that is holding down the business process outsourcing industry’s growth, as an escalation in violence spooks foreign clients, a new industry study shows. The South Asian Island had a head start by opening its telecommunications industry in the early 1990s, […]
Sri Lanka troops, rebels keep up attacks as peace bid stalls
Oct 7, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels kept up attacks against each other for a second day Saturday, as the rebels said the new fighting represented a serious blow to peace efforts. Air attacks against the rebels continued amid exchanges of fire in the eastern district of Batticaloa where heavy […]
Credit card ousts the giving basket at US churches
WASHINGTON, Oct 6, 2006 (AFP) – The days of donating at church by dropping money into a basket may become a thing of the past if Marty Baker has his way.Baker, a pastor in the southern state of Georgia, has come up with a divine idea to raise money for the Lord — automated teller […]
Headache-immune woodpeckers, picky dung beetles win IgNobels
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, Oct 6, 2006 (AFP) – Scientists who answered questions such as why woodpeckers don’t get headaches, whether dung beetles like their diet and if rectal massage can cure hiccups have at last been recognised for their work.The IgNobel Prizes, a tongue-in-cheek alternative to their more formal Scandinavian counterparts, were presented by genuine Nobel […]