Author: lbostgadmin
Norway fails to secure deal to lift Jaffna siege
Dec 8, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s peace broker Norway failed on Friday to secure an agreement to end a blockade on the Jaffna peninsula where nearly half a million people are trapped by fighting, officials said. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they told a Norwegian envoy to persuade the government […]
Sri Lanka to buy MiG aircraft from Ukraine
Dec 8, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is to bolster its air force by buying four Mig-27s from Ukraine as its battle with the Tamil Tiger rebels intensifies, a government minister said Friday. Policy Planning Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said Ukraine would also overhaul four identical ground attack aircraft already with the island’s airforce. The four […]
Bangladeshi workers exploited to stock British discount chains: report
LONDON, Dec 8, 2006 (AFP) – Garment workers in Bangladesh are working 80 hours a week for just five pence (seven euro cents, nine cents) an hour to produce cheap clothes for British consumers, a report claimed Friday. Anti-poverty charity War on Want said the employees were also having to endure poor working conditions to […]
Sprouting Mobile
Dec 08, 2006 (LBO) – A top mobile phone maker expects the Sri Lankan handset market to grow by 25 to 30 percent next year as the country, as the country’s cellular operators reach out to rural customers. Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, has already experienced a surge in handset sales here since […]
Buying Time
December 8, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Friday gave banks extra time till 2009 to top up their capital by five times, the Central Bank said, as some banks have fallen short of meeting a deadline set earlier. In April 2005, monetary authorities set the capital minimum capital limit for commercial banks’ at 2.5 billion […]
Funny Money
December 08, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s main opposition party has said the government should investigate suspected money laundering transactions in the Colombo Stock Exchange, when the vote on the finance ministry’s budget was taken up in parliament this week. UNP Parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardene, a former deputy finance minister said Sri Lanka is gaining a […]
Blast rips Sri Lanka water mains
Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) – A powerful explosion blew up a pipeline supplying water to parts of the capital and immediate suburbs, police said Thursday.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast at Boralesgamuwa, just south of Colombo, late Wednesday. There were no casualties or damage to other property, police said. Water supply […]
Aid workers blame bureaucracy for growing struggle to help Sri Lankans
PARIS, Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) – Western aid groups warned of a growing struggle to help Sri Lankan victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami and of the country’s war, four months after the massacre of 17 aid workers, and blamed bureaucracy for blocking their work.“The humanitarian situation is catastrophic,” said Aloysius John, head of Asia […]
Sri Lanka president says democracy must not stop anti-terror fight
COLOMBO, Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president has warned that democracy must not come in the way of battling terrorism, after his government moved to revive tough laws to bolster their battle against the Tamil Tigers. In his televised address, broadcast overnight Wednesday, Mahinda Rajapakse said the Tamil Tigers were scuttling the chances […]
School shelled as 9 dead in fresh violence in Sri Lanka
Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) – At least seven civilians and two soldiers were killed in fresh violence in Sri Lanka hours after the government announced tough anti-terror laws to battle Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said.Three civilians were killed and 10 students were wounded when Tamil Tiger rebels shelled a school in the northeastern district of […]
Five years on, copyright theft remains a Chinese trademark
BEIJING, Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) – When Shanghai police broke up a counterfeit pharmaceuticals ring that produced fake Tamiflu in August, it seemed a blow had been struck against China’s notorious intellectual property thieves.Tamiflu, produced by Roche, is one of the few treatments deemed effective against bird flu, and the seizure of 400 kilograms of […]
Airbus to hike investment in India to one billion dollars
NEW DELHI, Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) – Europe’s Airbus said Thursday it would hike investment in India to at least one billion dollars as it forecast the country would need 1,100 new planes over 20 years to meet soaring travel demand. The aircraft maker had pledged to plow back 500 million to 600 million dollars […]