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Common Understanding
August 01, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has agreed to extend ˜national treatment™ to Indian banks and allow them to employ up to six expatriate staff, when both sides met for bilateral trade talks recently, an official said. Sri Lanka currently caps expatriate staff to three and that only at management level of banks. Four […]
Central banks target rising inflation with interest rate hikes
PARIS, Aug 1, 2006 (AFP) – Vigorous economic growth and signs of inflation are drawing central banks into the US Federal Reserve’s footsteps on the path towards higher interest rates, marking the end of cheap money. Almost the entire global economy is facing the same combination, and alarms have begun to ring among monetary authorities […]
First orders at the Great British Beer Festival
LONDON, Aug 1, 2006 (AFP) – The Great British Beer Festival served the first of an estimated 300,000 weird and wonderful pints from across the globe Tuesday as a London exhibition hall was transformed into the biggest pub in the world.More than 700 different real ales, ciders, perries, and bottled beers are available for tasting […]
Clouds over free trade deal as South Asian foreign ministers meet
DHAKA, Aug 1, 2006 (AFP) – South Asian foreign ministers started a two-day meeting in the Bangladesh capital Tuesday amid gathering clouds over the future of a regional free trade deal. The foreign ministers of the seven South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations would try to thrash out a dispute over tariff concessions, […]
‘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 […]
Hawks calling the shots in Sri Lanka: analysts
Aug 1, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s ordering in of war planes and artillery to open a minor irrigation canal blocked by Tiger rebels is an over-reaction and a sign hawks are calling the shots, analysts said Tuesday. “Water is the life blood and very important, but could this not have been settled through negotiations […]
Sri Lankan war planes pound rebels after bus blast
Aug 1, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan warplanes and artillery pounded Tiger rebel positions Tuesday after one of the bloodiest days in the island’s recent history left 67 combatants dead and made a mockery of a ceasefire.The Tamil Tigers have been waging a violent secessionist campaign since the 1970s to secure an independent homeland in […]
Sri Lanka on the brink after 67 killed in new violence
Aug 1, 2006 (AFP) – The truce between Sri Lanka’s warring parties was stretched to breaking point Tuesday after one of the bloodiest days in the island’s recent history left at least 67 soldiers and Tamil rebels dead.The Tamil Tigers have been waging a violent secessionist campaign since the 1970s to secure an independent homeland […]
Minor Adjustment
August 1, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corp has raised fuel prices after a two-month lag to offset a surge in global oil prices, Petroleum Minister A H M Fowzie said. From midnight Tuesday: ¢ Gasoline costs 96.00 rupees (from 93.00 rupees) ¢ Diesel costs 63.00 rupees (from 61.00 rupees) ¢ Kerosene […]
On Course
August 01, 2006 (LBO) – Caltex Lanka Lubricants Tuesday reported a 16 percent spike in net profit after tax for the six months ended June this year, on the back of volume and price growth. Net profit after tax went up from 370 million to 429.7 million rupees for the first half of this year, […]