Category: Other
Bin Laden taunts US on 9/11 anniversary
NEW YORK, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) – Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden eulogized one of the September 11 hijackers in a video released on Tuesday’s sixth anniversary of the attacks that still traumatize the United States. As Americans remembered the almost 3,000 people killed, an attempted bomb attack in Turkey and a security alert at […]
Body Shop founder Anita Roddick dies
LONDON, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) – Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop cosmetics chain, died on Monday evening after suffering a major brain haemorrhage, her family said. Roddick, 64, was with her husband and two daughters at a hospital in Chichester, southern England, when she died at 6:30 pm (1730 GMT). She had been […]
Oil price danger looms over OPEC meeting
VIENNA, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) – OPEC oil ministers arrive in Vienna on Monday, under pressure to help combat high crude prices, which have surged to near-record highs and loom as a new risk for the global economy.The outcome is uncertain of a formal meeting on Tuesday, when the group will decide whether to raise […]
Prison Life
Sept 10, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan teenager Rizana Nafeek who is on death row is being treated well by her jailors and was hoping an appeal of her sentence will succeed, media reports said. Sometimes prisoners are kept on death row for years, before suddenly being taken and beheaded. “Rizana was so confident […]
WHO says time to get tough with tobacco giants
JEJU ISLAND, South Korea, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) – A top World Health Organisation official on Monday urged the world to get tough with tobacco companies, saying smoking deaths are an international scandal. “The deaths and misery caused by smoking continue to be one of the greatest scandals of our time,” said Shigeru Omi, WHO […]
Contempt Order
Sept 10, 2007 (LBO) – The head of Sri Lanka’s consumer authority has been ordered to resign by the Supreme Court over the implementation of a previous order on cooking gas pricing. . Updated Consumer Authority Chairman Sarath Wijesinghe was told he was not fit to take up any government post, an official said. Witnesses […]
‘s economy shrinks, adding to global concerns
TOKYO, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) – Japan’s economy contracted in the second quarter of 2007 as firms cut spending on new factories and equipment, the government said Monday, adding to jitters over the global economic climate. Past GDP estimates were also revised, showing the economy shrank by 0.1 percent in the third quarter of 2006, […]
Central bankers warn sub-prime crisis could hit whole US economy
BASEL, Switzerland, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) – The crisis in the US housing market risks spreading to the whole of the nation’s economy, European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet said Monday on behalf of world central bankers.Trichet was speaking in his capacity as head of the G10 group of central bankers from industrialised and emerging […]
Sri Lanka shares close lower
Sept 10, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka shares closed lower Monday after rising at the opening with interest in John Keells Holdings helping to improve turnover. The market turnover was over 375 million rupees while the All Share Index closed two points lower at 2,544.24. The Milanka Index closed down 2.65 points at 3,458.77. […]
Britain sued over colonial rule and mistreatment of Indians in Malaysia
WASHINGTON, Sept 8, 2007 (AFP) – A Malaysian human rights lawyer has filed a four trillion dollar lawsuit against Britain for alleged atrocities suffered by Indians whose forefathers were brought as indentured laborers to Malaysia during colonial rule. Among them were South Africa, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji and Mauritius, he said. […]
Asia-Pacific summit pumps up brothel business
SYDNEY, Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) – Sydney brothels have had to import prostitutes from other states to get over a demand hump caused by security agents and delegates attending an Asia-Pacific summit, an industry spokesman said Sunday. APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua […]
Sly Workers
Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan authorities have launched a crackdown on Indian nationals who arrive as tourists and stay on to work, an immigration official said Sunday.Eight Indian men were arrested Friday in the south of the island, where they had been employed as farm workers, the official said, adding that all had […]