Archaeologist sweats as fierce sun savages Taj Mahal

AGRA, India, May 11, 2006 (AFP) – An Indian archaeologist is praying for a respite from a heat wave engulfing the Taj Mahal town of Agra, warning that heavy dust in the dry air could permanently scar the marble monument to love.Temperatures hovered this week at 45 Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) in the city, 200 […]

World Bank finds explosive rise in carbon trading

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2006 (AFP) – The global market for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions — an innovative offshoot of the Kyoto pact on global warming — has shown explosive growth, the World Bank said Wednesday.But in a new report, the World Bank also noted that recent events in the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) […]

Reliance Petroleum creates waves on Indian stock exchange debut

MUMBAI, May 11, 2006 (AFP) – Reliance Petroleum shares jumped almost 70 percent on listing Thursday as investors rushed to buy a piece of the company operating what will be the world’s largest refinery complex, dealers said.Reliance Petroleum, a unit of India’s largest private company, Reliance Industries, opened at 101.95 rupees (2.66 dollars), compared to […]

Road Runner

May 11 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to begin work on the Colombo-Katunayake toll road this month tying up a construction deal with China Metallurgical Construction Group.Cabinet approval for the project came through on Wednesday, Jeyraj Fernandopulle, Minister of Highways told a Cabinet press briefing on Thursday. The tentative kick-off date for the building the […]

Sri Lanka launches coin series to commemorate Buddhist anniversary

May 11, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Thursday launched a series of commemorative coins to celebrate the 2550 anniversary of the Buddha, the Central Bank said.The coin series comprising 2,000 rupees, 1,500 rupees and 5-rupees, were issued at the request of the Religious Affairs ministry, the bank said. The 2,000 rupee gold plated silver coin […]

Japanese envoy urges Sri Lanka to choose war or peace

COLOMBO, May 10, 2006 (AFP) – A top Japanese envoy Wednesday warned that the international community cannot restore Sri Lanka’s faltering ceasefire and urged the government and Tamil rebels to decide for themselves on war or peace.Peace emissary Yasushi Akashi ended his four-day visit calling on both Colombo and the Tiger rebels to scale down […]

” claim

May 10, 2006 (AFP) – Investigators have yet to find any evidence that a woman suicide bomber who tried to assassinate Sri Lanka’s army chief was really pregnant as some local media reports had claimed, police said Wednesday.Logs at the army headquarters showed the bomber entered the military compound and staged the attack last month […]

‘s haul

LONDON, May 10, 2006 (AFP) – Muttiah Muralitharan wants to mark his first Test appearance at Lord’s by taking five wickets in an innings for Sri Lanka against England and getting his name on the dressing room honours board.“He will be the most important wicket for us as far as I’m concerned because when he […]

Jayawardene backs batsmen to come good against England

LONDON, May 10, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene insisted on Wednesday that his batsmen would have no trouble picking themselves up for the first Test against England here at Lord’s. But later in the day reports from Sri Lanka suggested that veteran left-handed opener Sanath Jayasuriya had been recalled from his Test […]

Jayasuriya comes out of retirement for second England Test

May 11, 2006 (AFP) – Prolific batsman Sanath Jayasuriya is set to return to Sri Lanka’s squad for the second Test against England after reversing his decision to quit, a cricket website said Wednesday.“The (Sri Lankan) selectors met this afternoon after Jayasuriya indicated a willingness to make himself available for Tests again and decided to […]

Hispanics, Asians are fastest growing groups in US

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2006 (AFP) – Hispanics and Asians are the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States, where one in three people now belong to a minority group, the US Census Bureau said Wednesday. In 2005, the minority population totalled 98 million, or 33 percent of the 296.4 million US population, the agency […]

Alien Raid

May 10 (LBO) – Sri Lanka authorities have initiated a major crackdown on illegal foreign labour in the country, starting with workers in foreign owned factories. Last weekend investigators from the Department of Immigration and Emigration raided a factory in the Kalutara district and arrested seven Indian nationals. The Controller of Immigration and Emigration P […]

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