Sri Lanka army ousts Tamil Tigers from Catholic shrine area

April 25, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s army has taken control of the area around a church revered by Catholics in the northwest after a long drawn out campaign to drive out the Tamil Tigers, the military said Friday. Troops were now digging in to secure their positions in the Madhu church area, in the […]

Sri Lanka clamps down on war reports after battle losses

April 25, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan authorities have extended “unofficial” censorship to hospitals and funeral parlours as losses mount after a major battle against Tamil rebels, a media rights group said Friday.The Free Media Movement (FMM) said the authorities had prevented photographers taking pictures of military casualties brought to hospitals following heavy fighting in […]

Blast in Sri Lanka suburb

April 25, 2008 (LBO) – An explosion at a bus in the the southern Colombo suburb of Piliyandala has left at least one person dead and 15 injured, police and eyewitnesses said. Police spokesman N K Illangakoon said the explosion occurred in Piliyandala, while witnesses reported the injured being rushed to a nearby hospital. An […]

Sri Lanka blast kills eight and injures dozens

April 25, 2008 (LBO) – A blast near a crowded bus station South of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo has left at least eight dead and more than a 30 injured, police and eyewitnesses said. The explosion went off in the suburb of Piliyandala during the evening rush hour at around 6.45 pm, the defence ministry […]

Sri Lanka bus blast: harrowing experience

April 25, 2008 (LBO) – The driver of a bus caught in a deadly explosion that left at least 23 dead said the bomb went off towards centre or back of the bus, just as he was pulling out of the the station. Driver K D Ananda Ratnasiri of the Kesbewa bus depot, who escaped […]

Copy Cats

April 25, 2008 (LBO) – Vendors selling fake ink cartridges in Sri Lanka under the Toshiba trademark are being hunted and prosecuted, regional Toshiba officials said in Colombo. The technology firm will prosecute vendors importing and selling counterfeit Toshiba products under the Intellectual Property Laws in Sri Lanka, Jeevantha Jayatilake, legal representative for Toshiba in […]

Strong Showing

April 25, 2008 (LBO) – NDB Bank says it has done well with a low cost to income ratio, and having the lowest non-performing loans among local banks while being profitable and having a strong balance sheet. “The bank’s low cost income ratio among local banks also reflects its stability while the growth in its […]

Athletes reject calls for Olympics boycott, protests in Beijing

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, April 24, 2008 (AFP) – Athletes from national Olympic Committees on Thursday rejected any boycott of the Beijing Games and said sport should be kept separate from politics despite China’s poor human rights record.“We are all of the wholehearted belief that boycotts are pointless and senseless — and only hurt the athletes,” the […]

Credit Suisse posts first quarter loss, further writedowns

ZURICH, April 24, 2008 (AFP) – Switzerland’s second biggest bank Credit Suisse on Thursday reported a net loss of 2.148 billion Swiss francs (1.330 billion euros, 2.11 billion dollars) for the first quarter of the year, hit by the ongoing subprime crisis in the United States. Writedowns in leveraged finance and structured products reached 5.3 […]

Wal-Mart unit limits rice to 36kg per person

MIAMI, April 23, 2008 (AFP) – Top retailer Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club unit said Wednesday it is limiting the amount of rice individual shoppers could buy at one time, as rice prices hit new records around the world. Sam’s Club said it had temporarily placed limits of four 20-pound (nine-kilogram) bags a person for jasmine, basmati, […]

‘s bloodiest battle in 18 months

April 24, 2008 (AFP) – Tamil rebels killed at least 100 Sri Lankan soldiers in the nation’s bloodiest battle in 18 months on Wednesday, the separatists said, as the military claimed more than 100 rebels died in the fighting. Updated The Tamil Tigers claimed they killed more than 100 government troops and had recovered 30 […]

Sri Lanka war set for long haul, analysts warn

April 24, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s hopes of a quick victory over Tamil separatists looked shattered Thursday after Tamil rebels inflicted the heaviest losses on security forces since pulling out of a truce, analysts said.The military leadership began 2007 by withdrawing from the 2002 ceasefire and vowing to crush the Liberation Tigers of Tamil […]

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