Author: lbostgadmin
Discord looms as finance chiefs meet on subprime crisis
TOKYO, Feb 8, 2008 (AFP) – World finance chiefs will try to bolster confidence in the faltering global economy when they meet Saturday amid signs of trans-Atlantic friction over how to respond to recent market mayhem. Washington’s calls for other major economies to boost domestic demand seem set to fall on deaf ears as Japan […]
Tobacco could kill more than one billion this century: report
NEW YORK, Feb 7, 2008 (AFP) – Tobacco use could kill more than one billion people around the world this century unless governments and civil society act to reverse the epidemic, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report released Thursday.“One hundred million deaths were caused by tobacco in the 20th century,” said the report […]
Mobile Finance
Feb 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Dialog Telekom, a unit of Telekom Malaysia, said it had raised 30 million US dollars from two banks to buy telecommunications equipment from Sweden. The package was arranged by Standard Chartered Bank in Colombo, Dialog said in a stock exchange filing. It was backed by EKN, Sweden’s export […]
Mufti Plan
Feb 8, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is setting up public vigilance committees and deploying thousands of policemen in plain clothes to strengthen security after a series of terrorist bombings, a government spokesman said. The aim is to improve surveillance and intelligence through better public co-operation with the authorities, minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told a news […]
” to end Sri Lanka bloodshed
Feb 7, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s former colonial ruler Britain has called for a “political process” to end Sri Lanka’s spiralling violence and condemned the latest wave of bombings against civilians.British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in a statement released here said that the Sri Lankan government’s unilateral withdrawal from a ceasefire with separatist rebels […]
Sri Lanka media working under fear: Amnesty
Feb 7, 2008 (AFP) – Dozens of unsolved murders, abductions, and disappearances of journalists have cast a pall on open reporting in Sri Lanka as an ethnic civil war intensifies, a rights group said Thursday.At least 10 media workers have been killed over the past two years, while others have been abducted, tortured, or illegally […]
Ranatunga picks new team to head Sri Lanka Cricket
Feb 7, 2008 (AFP) – Two of Sri Lanka’s foremost cricketers, Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva, have joined up to lead the island’s cricket administration, sports minister Gamini Lokuge told AFP on Thursday.Former captain Ranatunga, who already heads Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), will be assisted by his World Cup winning colleague Aravinda de Silva […]
Sri Lanka suspends school sports after bomb
Feb 7, 2008 (AFP) – All school sports have been suspended in Sri Lanka after a Tamil Tiger suicide bomb attack in the capital killed nine pupils and a baseball coach, the government said Thursday.An eduction ministry spokesman said planned field trips for events marking the island’s 60th anniversary of independence from Britain would also […]
Hilary raids own kitty as Obama photofinish takes toll
US-VOTE – 02/07/2008 01:41 GMT – AFP PRINT WASHINGTON, Feb 6, 2008 (AFP) – Hillary Clinton’s race for the White House showed vulnerability Wednesday as she admitted tapping her own pocketbook for five million dollars to keep up a grueling fight against rival Barack Obama. “A month and a half is an eternity in politics […]
‘s hotel bought by Dubai state firm
LONDON, Feb 7, 2008 (AFP) – A property fund backed by an investment arm of the Dubai government bought prime west London property from the Queen’s portfolio, the monarch’s property managers announced on Wednesday. Its revenues from its assets are paid to the finance ministry. The Crown Estate, which manages Queen Elizabeth II’s real estate, […]
Euro sags ahead of ECB rate decision
TOKYO, Feb 7, 2008 (AFP) – The euro was slightly weaker against its major rivals in Asian trade on Thursday amid nervousness ahead of an interest rate decision by the European Central Bank, dealers said.They said traders were also cautious about a weekend meeting of world finance chiefs in Tokyo where recent financial market turmoil […]
Desert Move
Feb 07, 2008 (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence, a top leisure group that also runs resorts in the Maldives and India, said it had inked a deal to operate four hotels of Oman Hotels and Tourism Company (OHTC). . Al Falaj and Ruwi Hotels in Muscat, Al Wadi in Sohar and Sur Plaza in […]