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Asia proves hip for designer wallets: global survey
SINGAPORE, June 5, 2006 (AFP) – Asians buy more designer wallets than any other region but luxury-brand loyalty varies from country to country, a global consumer survey revealed Monday.The survey of 21,000 Internet users in 42 countries conducted by research firm ACNielsen showed that the most popular designer brand globally is Ralph Lauren followed by […]
In Indian zoos, life can be brutal and short
NEW DELHI, June 5, 2006 (AFP) – Visitors to Indian zoos often throw stones at animals, many of whom are already in pain and enclosed in filthy, concrete boxes, officials and animal rights groups say.Deteriorating conditions prompted rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals last month to sue states running zoos and the […]
Tigers to raise neutrality of monitors after EU ban
June 5, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels will this week question the impartiality of truce monitors from Denmark, Sweden and Finland in the wake of a European Union ban on the guerrillas, officials said Monday. The Sri Lankan government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have sent delegations to […]
Sri Lanka warring parties head for Oslo talks
June 4, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s warring parties Sunday sent their respective delegations to Oslo, the capital of peace broker Norway, to discuss the safety of Nordic monitors amid a collapsing ceasefire, officials said.A five-member delegation of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was brought by military helicopter to the island’s only […]
Mine blasts kill two soldiers in Sri Lanka
June 4, 2006 (AFP) – Two soldiers and a bus station guard have been killed in separate attacks in Sri Lanka’s troubled northeast, the military said Sunday.A Claymore mine attack in the district of Mannar killed a soldier and wounded three others while a similar explosion killed another trooper in the northern peninsula of Jaffna […]
Tiger rebels escape in Sri Lanka jail break
June 4, 2006 (AFP) – Eight inmates, among them two Tamil Tigers being held for firearm offences, broke out of a jail in Sri Lanka’s restive eastern province Sunday after overpowering their guards, an official said.The men, brandishing a firearm, escaped from the main prison in Batticaloa, 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of here, as […]
Foreign pressure pushing Sri Lanka to talks as war fears recede
June 4, 2006 (AFP) – Stepped up international pressure encouraged Sri Lanka’s warring parties to resume talks this week amid hopes of a new power-sharing deal, officials and diplomats said.Sri Lanka’s government is set to open two days of talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Oslo, the capital of peace broker […]
Tsunami puts Sri Lanka’s cinnamon industry on a different plane
A budding cinnamon plant that’s growing after the tsunami. PERALIYA, June 3, 2006 (LBO) — Wearing a red crash helmet to beat the sun, Punya Sena crouches on the ground, planting young cinnamon saplings to replace thousands that were destroyed by the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka’s coastal belt in December 2004. . Wimalawathi Mendis, […]
Quick Thinking
June 3, 2006 (AFP) – A Thai airways flight from Colombo to Bangkok made an emergency landing Saturday at Sri Lanka’s only international airport shortly after take-off, airport officials said.The Airbus A-330 aircraft carrying over 225 passengers and crew reported engine trouble and returned to the airport after being in the air for a few […]
‘s cinnamon industry on a different plane
A budding cinnamon plant that’s growing after the tsunami. PERALIYA, June 3, 2006 (LBO) — Wearing a red crash helmet to beat the sun, Punya Sena crouches on the ground, planting young cinnamon saplings to replace thousands that were destroyed by the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka’s coastal belt in December 2004. . Wimalawathi Mendis, […]