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Giant Strides
May 29, 2006 (LBO) – Bank of Ceylon, Sri Lanka’s biggest state owned lender in terms of assets, is confident of making a 4.5 billion profit before taxes for the full year 2006-7, a top official said Monday. Sri Lanka has 10 domestic banks, of which two are state owned Bank of Ceylon and the […]
Office Blocks
May 29 (LBO) – The Korean government gave Sri Lanka a 20 million dollar loan on Monday for an administrative complex in the South to relocate tsunami hit offices. Most government offices in the Hambantota district are currently located in private houses after tidal waves in December 2004 destroyed large numbers of state buildings. The […]
Why geography curses Indonesia — and always will
HONG KONG, May 29, 2006 (AFP) – The powerful earthquake that hit Indonesia was just the latest display of violent seismic activity on the archipelago, which stretches across one of the most unstable parts of the Earth’s surface.The country’s position on the planet’s crust means it will continue to experience such catastrophes, just as it […]
Impotent patient kills sex doctor
NEW DELHI, May 29, 2006 (AFP) – An Indian sexologist was shot dead by a patient depressed by worsening impotency, reports said Monday. Javed Ali, 22, on Sunday pumped seven bullets into the self-styled sexologist who had been treating him for two years, The Hindustan Times said. Thirty-three-year-old Rajesh Abbot fell under a hail of […]
World press leaders debate how to join the Internet revolution
EDINBURGH, May 29, 2006 (AFP) – Global press chiefs gathered in the Scottish capital Edinburgh to thrash out how best to wrestle with the rise of the Internet, stay on top of technology, and beat countless bloggers and citizen journalists to the story. The three-day International Press Institute (IPI) World Congress opened Sunday with fervent […]
UN agency warns Sri Lankan refugees against fleeing to India
May 29, 2006 (AFP) – The United Nations agency for refugees warned Sri Lankans on Monday against fleeing troubled areas and making a “perilous journey” to neighbouring India. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said at least 10 people drowned while making a dangerous crossing in May of the Palk Straits, the narrow […]
Tigers agree to Oslo talks amid EU ban
May 29, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Monday banked on the European Union to ban the Tamil Tigers even as the rebels said they would agree to more talks to shore up the implementation of a fragile ceasefire.The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) face the “terrorist” label across the 25-member European Union bloc […]
War fears shake Sri Lanka as Tigers face EU ban
May 29, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka was Monday banking on the European Union to ban Tamil Tiger rebels this week, but analysts and officials warned that proscription was unlikely to save a collapsing ceasefire at home. Norway’s International Development Minister Erik Solheim, who held talks with Sri Lankan leaders on Friday, warned that the […]
Donors take stock as dead bodies pile up in Sri Lanka
May 28, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s key foreign aid donors will meet to reevaluate the troubled nation’s faltering peace process this week at a meeting in Tokyo as blood continues to be spilt in the south Asian nation. Japan’s peace envoy Yasushi Akashi is to host a meeting of the United States, the European […]
Sri Lanka peace hopes dim as Norway fails to clinch talks deal
May 28, 2006 (AFP) – Hopes of ending Sri Lanka’s ethnic bloodshed have hit rock bottom after peacebroker Norway failed to arrange talks on saving a collapsing ceasefire, diplomats and officials said Sunday.Oslo’s efforts were complicated by a looming European Union ban on the Tamil Tiger rebels, who threatened to respond by scrapping the truce […]