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Dec 28, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka condemned Friday the assassination of Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and said it underscored the need for “absolute commitment” to fight terrorism.“This brutal assassination, underlines the need for the absolute commitment to fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, in order to make it unacceptable in […]
From Pakistan to Sri Lanka; record of assassinations in the Indian subcontinent
ISLAMABAD, Dec 27, 2007 (AFP) – Thursday’s assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is one of a long series of political assassinations which have taken place in southern Asia since the end of the colonial era and the partitition of India in 1947. INDIA – January 30, 1948: A Hindu extremist kills Mahatma […]
Sri Lanka may be able to avoid money printing if deficit is lower in 2008: minister
Dec 28, 2007(LBO) – Sri Lanka can manage without printing money for next year if the government keeps to the budget deficit of around 7.5 to 8 percent of the domestic product, a senior minister said. The 2008 budget was designed to maintain the deficit at 7.5 percent but if anything unpredictable takes place, expenditure […]
Heavenly Alerts
Dec 27, 2007 (LBO) – A digital satellite radio disaster alert system that can be remotely activated which was field tested in Sri Lanka is now ready for use in the region to give early warning of tsunamis, officials said. The Addressable Radio for Emergency Alert (AREA) system can send disaster alerts within seconds of […]
Media Rumpus
Dec 27, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lanka minister who was held hostage by angry colleagues inside a television station after he assaulted the news chief of the broadcaster was rescued by commandos, an LBO journalist at the scene said. Chandrasekera’s colleague Lal Mawalage said this was the first time the Rupavahini Corporation had acted […]
Mobile Auction
Dec 27, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan fisherman are using mobile phones to ‘auction’ their catch before reaching shore, allowing them to get better prices, backed by better bargaining power, an official said. Once the fishermen land their catch, it has to be sold quickly before the fish starts to spoil. “As soon as they […]
Russia tries to counter weak macro-management with agriculture
MOSCOW, Dec 27, 2007 (AFP) – President Vladimir Putin on Thursday urged government ministers to fight inflation by making Russia’s agriculture sector competitive against foreign food imports.The bank’s earlier 2008 inflation target was between six and seven percent.“One of the key tasks for 2008 is to fight inflation. Unfortunately we have not been successful at […]
Benazir Bhutto dead in Pakistan attack
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Dec 27, 2007 (AFP) – Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed Thursday in a suicide attack at a campaign rally, the interior ministry told AFP. A suicide bomber blew himself up just after the rally and it was not immediately clear how she died. “It may have been pellets packed into the […]
Nepal hikes petrol prices after shortages
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Dec 26, 2007 (AFP) – Nepal’s state-owned oil company on Wednesday hiked petrol prices by nearly 10 percent, the second increase in the last two months, to meet a rising import bill in the landlocked nation, officials said.Shah said there would be a gradual improvement in supplies in the next few weeks. “The […]
Malta, Cyprus to go Euro on January 1
VALLETTA, Dec 27, 2007 (AFP) – The tiny Mediterranean island nations of Cyprus and Malta join the eurozone on January 1, turning the single-currency area from a 13-country zone into a club of 15.Large companies will take the change in their stride, said Gordon Cordina, advisor of Malta’s employers’ federation.“For a small open economy like […]
Sri Lanka army commandos go in to free minister
Dec 27, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka sent a crack commando unit into the state-run television station Thursday to rescue a government minister kidnapped by journalists for allegedly assaulting a colleague, officials told AFP.An anti-hijacking and hostage rescue squad of army commandos was already at the Rupavahini state television network to free Labour Minister Mervin […]
Sri Lanka minister storms state tv; news director assaulted
Dec 27, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan junior government minister stormed into the state-owned Rupavahini television station with armed thugs and assaulted its news director a short while ago, journalists said Thursday. International media rights organization have described Sri Lanka as the third most dangerous place for journalists in the world after Iraq and […]