All Blogs
The corporate takeover that triggered a coup
SINGAPORE, Sept 20, 2006 (AFP) – The overthrow of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra marked the culmination of a crisis partly triggered by the controversial Singaporean takeover of a major conglomerate from his family.Singapore’s state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings bought 49 percent of the Thaksin family-controlled telecom giant Shin Corp. in January for nearly 1.9 […]
Three dead and curfew in Northeast Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, Sept 20, 2006 (AFP) – Three people were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in northeast Sri Lanka, police said Wednesday, and a curfew was put in place in a nearby town following an earlier massacre of 10 Muslim men.Tamil rebels have waged a drawn-out insurgency for a separate ethnic homeland in Sri Lanka, a […]
Advertisers take advantage of tighter Sri Lanka security
COLOMBO, Sept 20, 2006 (AFP) – The fear of bomb attacks in Sri Lanka following an upsurge in violence has spawned extra security checks, making daily life more difficult, but the hassle has also created unexpected marketing opportunities, according to advertising specialists. At road-blocks, for instance, prominent adverts for products such as the pain-killer “Panadol” […]
End bloodshed to restore Sri Lanka business confidence: IMF-WBank
SINGAPORE, Sept 20, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has shown economic resilience but needs to end violence to restore much-needed business confidence, the World Bank and IMF said Wednesday. The South Asian nation forecasts a blistering 8.0 percent growth this year, the biggest in nearly three decades, despite soaring violence that has claimed more than […]
Sri Lanka to lead South Asian initiative to study impact of oil prices
SINGAPORE, September 20, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is leading a South Asia initiative to study the impact of oil prices and its effects on macro economic policies, Bangladesh’s Central Bank governor said. Finance misters of the South Asian Association for Regional Corporation (SAARC) – an eight member regional grouping – who met on the […]
Commercial potential of cricket remains untapped
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19, 2006 (AFP) – Asia remains a vast area of untapped commercial possibility for cricketing authorities but all the elements are in place for this to change.That’s the way Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief executive Syed Ashraful Huq sees the future for a sport he believes is on the cusp of being […]
Sri Lanka civilian killings on the rise: rights group
NEW YORK, Sept 19, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government and Tamil Tiger rebels have stepped up killings of civilians in a surge of violence this year that has shattered gains made under a 2002 ceasefire, a leading rights group said Tuesday. More than 60,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka’s Tamil separatist conflict […]
Tiger arms ship originated in Indonesia, more on the way: Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, Sept 19, 2006 (AFP) – A ship suspected of ferrying weapons to Tamil rebels that was sunk by the Sri Lankan military originated in Indonesia and more vessels may be on the way, a government minister said Tuesday. The ship was sunk Sunday off Sri Lanka’s east coast by naval ships and aircraft after […]
War planes hit Tigers after Muslim massacre, reporters escape bombing
COLOMBO, Sept 19, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan jets bombed suspected Tamil Tiger targets in the island’s east Tuesday, officials said, while rebel mortars killed four soldiers escorting journalists in the embattled Jaffna peninsula. Israeli-made Kfir war planes bombed positions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the district of Batticaloa, the government’s […]
Muslims buried in Sri Lanka after being hacked to death
POTTUVIL, Sept 18 (AFP) – The bodies of 10 Muslim men found hacked to death were buried in the farming village of Pottuvil on Monday as the Tamil Tiger rebels and Sri Lankan forces blamed each other for the massacre.The victims, mostly between 20 and 27 years old, were brought to the Jumma Mosque in […]