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Bollywood looks abroad for special effects to spice films
MUMBAI, Sept 4, 2006 (AFP) – Bollywood is bucking a global trend of outsourcing technical film work to India by using experts from abroad to provide special effects for increasingly demanding audiences, the industry said Monday. Studios with large company backing and aggressive directors are behind the trend that has led to most of the […]
Sri Lanka troops capture Tiger town: minister
Sept 4 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops Monday captured an eastern coastal town used by Tiger rebels to launch artillery attacks against the strategic naval port of Trincomalee, a government minister told AFP.Security forces moved into Sampur, 10 kilometers (six miles) across the Koddiya Bay from the Trincomalee naval and air complex, with hardly any […]
President capture of key Tiger controlled town will not lead to all out war
Sept 4 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops Monday captured a town used by Tiger rebels to launch artillery against the key naval port of Trincomalee, but President Mahinda Rajapakse said the victory would not lead to all-out war. Security forces have moved into Sampur, 10 kilometers (six miles) across the Koddiya Bay from the Trincomalee […]
Bigger Bills
Sept 04 (LBO) – Ceylon Petroleum Corporation said Monday that it would jack up fuel prices with effect from midnight Monday, to offset losses made by the state utility. Petrol will go up by Rs. 5.00 a litre to 101 rupees, diesel by Rs.3.00 to Rs. 67.00 a litre and kerosene, largely used by rural […]
Hasty Exit
Sept 04 (LBO) – The government has shelved a bidding round for oil exploration until it sorts out a battle with Norwegian company TGS Nopec to buy up three years worth of seismic data. TGS Nopec conducted seismic surveys in the Mannar Basin since 2002, with the government trying to buy back the data for […]
Sri Lanka refutes Nordic monitors over massacre charge
Sept 3, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Sunday stepped up its campaign against Nordic truce monitors who accused government forces of involvement in the killing of 17 employees of a French aid charity last month.After accusing the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) of being “biased” and “unprofessional,” the office coordinating the peace process […]
Sri Lanka fighting hits lull
Sept 3, 2006 (AFP) – Fighting between troops and Tamil Tigers near a key northeast port hit a lull Sunday, residents said, a day after 80 rebels were reportedly killed in a sea battle off the northern Jaffna peninsula.Artillery guns were silent in the restive port district of Trincomalee since the weekend, residents said, adding […]
India lays out five-year roadmap to freer rupee convertibility
NEW DELHI, Sept 2, 2006 (AFP) – India should make the rupee more freely convertible over the next five years to realise the country’s “maximum” economic potential, a central bank committee has urged. Such a move to loosen curbs on trading the rupee against other currencies would rank as one of India’s biggest economic reforms. […]
Bangladesh shipping firms suspend use of port, halting trade
CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, Sept 2, 2006 (AFP) – Bangladesh’s trade shipments ground to a virtual halt Saturday as shipping firms refused to use the nation’s main port in a protest over container fees. “Most of the private shipping companies have today (Saturday) suspended transporting cargoes to and from Chittagong port,” Chittagong Port Authority chairman Shahadat Hossain […]
Sri Lanka sends more supplies to Jaffna
Sept 2, 2006 (AFP) – A second cargo ship was loaded here Saturday with supplies for desperate residents of Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna peninsula, where the navy said it killed 80 Tamil rebels in a fierce six-hour sea battle.The vessel containing food, drugs and other essential goods was slated to leave Sunday on a two-day […]