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Singapore launches drive to attract immigrants amid baby shortage
SINGAPORE, Aug 21, 2006 (AFP) – Singapore will launch a more aggressive drive to attract immigrants to avert a serious population shortage, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, again urging citizens to produce more babies.Raising the population issue as one of his priorities, Lee said the government would establish a new “citizenship and population unit” […]
Ancient Indian port with links to Roman Empire faces extinction
PATTANAM, India, Aug 21, 2006 (AFP) – Pottery shards, beads, Roman copper coins and ancient wine bottles litter the strata beneath this small seaside village in India’s southern Kerala state.The 250 families, mostly agricultural labourers, who live in Pattanam, 260 kilometers (161 miles) north of Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram, find the objects pretty, but would rather […]
Monitors flee fighting amid fresh bid to save Sri Lanka truce
Aug 21, 2006 (AFP) – The monitors of Sri Lanka’s collapsing truce were retreating to Colombo amid fierce fighting as the nation’s financial backers met the president to press for a return to peace talks, officials said Monday.Clashes continued between government troops and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels amid growing concern over food shortages in parts […]
Jaffna: The Tamil cultural capital turned killing field
Aug 21, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops and Tigers are locked in fierce fighting over Jaffna, but analysts say the arid peninsula is of little real value to either party except as a symbol. Yet, more blood has been spilt over Jaffna than any other region in Sri Lanka. The latest fighting, which began […]
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Aug 20 (AFP) – A foreign team monitoring Sri Lanka’s crumbling ceasefire will be almost halved after Tamil Tiger rebels ordered members from European Union states to leave the country, the group said Sunday.The team will be reduced from a full strength of 57 members to 30 next month after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil […]
Mini Race
August 15 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s fuel efficient small car market is racing ahead, helped by high oil prices and prohibitive taxes on larger cars.So, customers are willing to wait.†Despite the lack of economies of scale available to China and India, the company is making inroads in to the small car market. Leading the […]
India takes Coca-Cola to court alleging high pesticide levels
BANGALORE, India, Aug 19 (AFP) – India’s southern state of Karnataka has filed a case against US soft drinks giant Coca-Cola, accusing it of selling products with unacceptably high pesticide levels, a minister said Saturday.The case was filed August 12 after state health department-supervised laboratory tests showed excessive amounts of pesticide in Coca-Cola product samples, […]
More clashes in Sri Lanka while refugee numbers rise
Aug 19 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops bombed an alleged Tamil Tiger seabase and traded fire with rebels in the northern Jaffna peninsula amid concern over supplies for thousands of civilians who fled fierce fighting, officials said Saturday.An airforce jet bombed a boatyard in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territory claiming it was used […]
Sri Lankan warplanes attack Tiger boat base
Aug 19 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s airforce Saturday said it had destroyed attack craft used by Tamil Tigers in an airstrike on a boatyard in rebel-held territory.The military said it had destroyed many boats in Friday’s raid on the yard in the northern Jaffna peninsula where the guerrillas were building boats to launch seaborne attacks […]