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South Asian ministers fail to resolve India-Pakistan tariff row
DHAKA, Aug 2, 2006 (AFP) – India accused Pakistan of jeopardising a fledgling South Asian free trade deal by failing to fully implement key tariff cuts as a regional ministerial meeting wound up in Dhaka on Wednesday. India said that a Pakistani move to limit tariff concessions for Indian goods was a breach of the […]
Cricket proves welcome distraction from bloodshed in Sri Lanka
Aug 2, 2006 (AFP) – As the bloody ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka escalates, people in the island nation are turning to their top-flight cricket team to provide a balm for the misery.When Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels were locked in the bloodiest ground battle since 2002 on Monday, the nation’s cricketers were […]
Norwegian mediator calls for immediate end to Sri Lanka fighting
OSLO, Aug 2, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka peace mediator Norway on Wednesday called on the warring parties in Sri Lanka to immediately end all hostilities, which have claimed more than 100 lives in the past week.“We very strongly appeal to the two parties to stop the offensive operations immediately,” Norwegian Development Aid Minister Erik […]
Sri Lanka port city rocks as neighbourhood battles rage
TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka, Aug 2, 2006 (AFP) – The sounds of explosions in this northeastern Sri Lankan port town were more muffled Wednesday than during an intense artillery attack a day earlier, but residents found them just as scary.“We had no sleep from midnight because of the explosions at a distance,” said housewife H.P. Bandumathi, […]
Tigers open new front as battle for water claims more lives
Aug 2, 2006 (AFP) – Tiger rebels attacked three army camps and a town in Sri Lanka Wednesday, sparking fierce fighting which killed at least 47 by official count and opened new fronts in a week-long battle over water.The deaths — which now total at least 118 since Monday — have made a mockery of […]
47 killed in Sri Lanka fighting: military
COLOMBO, Aug 2, 2006 (AFP) – At least 40 Tiger rebels, five troopers and two civilians were killed when troops repulsed an attack by the guerrillas on army camps and the town of Muttur in northeastern Sri Lanka Wednesday, the defence ministry said. “During the whole incident, troops attacked the terrorists in retaliation causing them […]
Sri Lanka army, rebels in new clash
Aug 2, 2006 (AFP)- Tamil Tiger rebels and Sri Lankan forces traded heavy artillery and mortar bomb fire in a two-hour clash Wednesday that left at least 20 civilians wounded, officials and doctors said.The battle in the northeast of the island nation marked the eighth day of heavy fighting between the two sides for control […]
Mortar bomb hits Sri Lanka hospital
Aug 2, 2006 (AFP) – At least one employee was killed when a shell hit a government hospital in northeastern Sri Lanka Wednesday during an artillery duel between troops and Tamil Tigers, officials said.The main hospital in Muttur was hit early Wednesday, killing an employee and wounding several others, a hospital source in the nearby […]
Tigers hit Sri lanka’s main naval port as battle for canal heats up
Aug 1, 2006 (AFP) – Tiger rebels shelled Sri Lanka’s main navy base Tuesday, killing four sailors and wounding 30, while warplanes bombed guerrilla positions as a bloody battle for a disputed waterway entered a seventh day. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) used 122-millimeter artillery to target the base at Trincomalee as […]
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August 01, 2006 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka Tuesday assigned a ‘BBB (lka)’ to Merchant Credit of Sri Lanka for their long-term debt and said the company should pump in more money to beef up their capital base.With 2.2 billion rupees in assets as at December ’05, Merchant Credit’s ownership is split between Bank of […]