Author: lbostgadmin
and military secrets at the Bagram bazaar
BAGRAM, June 15, 2008 (AFP) – “I don’t really know what it is for,” says a salesman with some embarrassment, despite the explicit illustrations on the bottle of “Long Love Spray”.Alongside it on the shelf of a tiny shop in the bazaar at Bagram is a “special sex” gel as well as distinctive blue pills […]
Sri Lanka says Tiger base hit, 17 dead in clashes
June 15, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan war planes destroyed a suspected Tamil Tiger logistics base in the island’s northeast Sunday after ground battles left 15 guerrillas and two soldiers dead, the defence ministry said.Air force fighter jets pounded a “logistics base and combat vehicle conversion plant” in Mullaitivu district early Sunday, the ministry said. […]
Sri Lankan tea pluckers not reaping benefits: study
June 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea estate community, which plucked the leaf that kept the economy afloat for more than a century, has not reaped the benefits of the trade, says a new study on the link between trade and poverty. “The estate sector in Sri Lanka is a prime example of trade […]
Oil mania worse than dot-com craze: report
June 14, 2008 (LBO) – The current oil bubble which has seen crude rising 700-pct since November 2001 is worse than the dot-com bubble which saw the Nasdaq composite index rising 640 percent before it crashed, a media report said. Food riots in poor countries have increasingly put pressure on the Federal Reserve to alter […]
British Patels are top consumers of hi-tec gadgets
LONDON, June 13 (Asia Pulse) – In the world of hi-tech gadgetry, you no longer need to keep up with the Joneses but with the Patels. Analysis of buying behaviour among people with common surnames has found that those called Patel are most likely to own must-have gadgets. Based on 12 months of sales figures […]
US will take a 100 years to recover from Bush: Gore Vidal
MADRID, June 14, 2008 (AFP) – It will take the the United States a century to recover from the damage wreaked by President George.W. Bush, US writer Gore Vidal said in an interview published Saturday.“The president behaved like a virtual criminal but we didn’t have the courage to sack him for fear of violating the […]
US airline catastrophe looms under record oil prices: study
WASHINGTON, June 14, 2008 (AFP) – The US airline industry is set to crash as record oil prices threaten to push several carriers into bankruptcy, threatening “our American way of life,” an industry study said. “As a consequence of the skyrocketing price of oil, the US commercial aviation industry is in full-blown crisis and heading […]
Smoking Out
June 14, 2008 (LBO) – Laugfs Eco Sri, a unit of Sri Lanka’s Laugfs gas distributor, plans to launch a sample testing centre next month to test vehicle exhaust emissions ahead of the imposition of new emission standards. The government has said vehicles that do not meet proposed exhaust emission standards will not be given […]
Jumbo Release
UDAWALAWE, June 14, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Saturday released eight orphaned baby elephants into the jungle after rescuing them from near certain death, wildlife officials said.Many of those elephants cared for by the wildlife officials have been injured after being struck by trains or shot by farmers. Others are rescued from pits into […]
Sri Lanka returns orphaned baby elephants to the wild
UDAWALAWE, June 14, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Saturday released eight orphaned baby elephants into the jungle after rescuing them from near certain death, wildlife officials said. Official figures show about 150 are killed annually by villagers whose crops are destroyed by marauding elephants that claim the lives of 50 farmers each year. Many […]
Sri Lanka to get US$900mn from World Bank for regional growth
June 13, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka could get 900 million US dollars from the World Bank over the next three years to build infrastructure in lagging regions, improve health, education and safety nets, the multilateral lender said. The World Bank’s executive directors had endorsed a country assistance strategy (CAS) covering the period from July […]
Sri Lanka govt muzzled media during EU visit: rights group
June 13, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government pressured independent newspapers not to publish critical stories during a visit by a European Union delegation to the island earlier this week, a media rights group said. The statement said that journalists working for several newspapers told Reporters Without Borders on condition of anonymity that during […]