Sri Lanka says eight rebels killed in fresh violence

COLOMBO, May 14, 2007 (AFP) – Eight Tamil Tiger rebels have been killed in fresh clashes in Sri Lanka’s embattled northern and eastern regions, the defence ministry said Monday.Security forces killed seven rebels in the northern district of Vavuniya late Sunday in a gunbattle along their defence lines, the ministry said. In a separate confrontation […]

Moody leaves Sri Lanka to coach Western Australia

PERTH, Australia, May 14, 2007 (AFP) – Tom Moody has quit as coach of Sri Lanka’s cricket squad to take over at Western Australia next season, the WA Cricket Association said here Monday.WACA president Dennis Lillee said Moody, a former Australian international cricketer, will take over coaching Western Australia on July 1. Moody, who led […]

Kate Webb, legendary Asian correspondent, dies

SYDNEY, May 13, 2007 (AFP) – Through wars, disasters and coups, foreign correspondent Kate Webb chronicled the turbulent birth of modern Asia, becoming a media legend who had the eerie experience of reading her own obituary. Webb, who died of cancer on Sunday at 64, covered many of Asia’s seminal events of the last four […]

Swiss central banker sees more rate hikes, to keep inflation below one percent

GENEVA, May 13, 2007 (AFP) – Further increases in Swiss interest rates are still on the cards, one of Switzerland’s central bankers said Sunday, while also praising the management of the euro currency.The eurozone is Switzerland’s biggest foreign trade market. Thomas Jordan, who joined the board of the Swiss National Bank on May 1, told […]

‘s inflation 3.0% in April, down from March

BEIJING, May 14, 2007 (AFP) – China’s consumer price inflation eased in April, rising 3.0 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday. The index, a key indicator of consumer inflation in the world’s fourth-largest econnomy, was down from a year-on-year rise of 3.3 percent in March. Compared with March, consumer […]

Money printing, 2,200% inflation keep 80% of Zimbabweans in poverty

HARARE, May 13, 2007 (AFP) – Zimbabwean cashier Cosmas Gwizo does not look forward to pay day.For the 43-year-old earning 500,000 Zimbabwean dollars a month (about 2,000 dollars) the receipt of his salary cheque is a painful rather than joyous occasion. “Each time I receive my pay cheque I start scratching my head trying to […]

More Victims

May 14, 2007 (LBO) – A listed Islamic insurer said it was suspending a proposed bonus issue, while a shipping firm said it had sought legal advice on how to proceed after a new company law made bonus issues redundant. The new law does not recognize bonus issues, and firms that want to issue more […]

Hot Chillies

May 14, 2007 (LBO) – International judges marking creative works for Sri Lanka’s Chillies advertising awards have been so strict on maintaining high standards that there were no winners in some categories. “Next year’s steering committee will without doubt deliver an event that is even better than this year’s. There are learnings from this year […]

Good Quarter

May 14, 2007 (LBO) – PABC Bank net profit for the first quarter of 2007 shot up 91% to 45.4 million rupees from 23.7 million rupees in the same period the year before.Interest income in the January 1, 2007 to March 31, 2007 quarter rose to 387 million rupees from 271 million rupees last year, […]

Foreign aid cut fear as Sri Lanka fails on human rights

May 13, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s failure to share power with minority Tamils and put an end to extra-judicial killings have raised prospects of more aid cuts to the embattled island, officials and diplomats say. A top US envoy left Colombo on Thursday after castigating the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse for not delivering […]

Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, five rebels killed

May 13, 2007 (AFP) – Unidentified gunmen shot dead a Buddhist monk in eastern Sri Lanka Sunday as security forces killed five Tamil Tiger rebels elsewhere, officials said. Monk Sandungamuwe Nandaratana was shot dead at a temple about 260 kilometres (162 miles) northeast of Colombo, military officials said, adding that the attackers had escaped. The […]

High Standards

May 13, 2007 (LBO) – The Chillies advertising awards in Sri Lanka finished Saturday with no winners among the finalists but Triad Advertising agency clinched two gold awards, unofficially making them the winners. The statement said Leo Burnett was able to win awards across a wide range of categories for a diverse group of clients, […]

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