Wrong List

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2007 (AFP) – US Middle East allies Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, as well as key trading partner Malaysia were added Tuesday to a Washington blacklist of countries trafficking in people.Algeria and Guinea were the other additions to the blacklist of the US State Department’s annual “Trafficking in Persons Report,” which analyzed […]

Saudi Arabia executions rise to new high this year

RIYADH, June 11, 2007 (AFP) – Not even the king can save a convict on death row for premeditated murder from the executioner’s sword in Saudi Arabia.However, Amnesty International, in its 2007 report, said “many defendants complained that they were not represented by lawyers and were not informed of the progress of their trial”.The death […]

Tourists to Nepal up 45 per cent since peace deal

KATHMANDU, June 11, 2007 (AFP) – Tourism arrivals to Nepal have shot up nearly 45 percent since former Maoist rebels ended their bloody “people’s war” at the end of 2006, officials said Monday. Landlocked and impoverished, Nepal relies on tourism for about four percent of the country’s economy employment for some 300,000 people. “The last […]

Go Back

June 11, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has deported over 400 foreign nationals so far this year for overstaying their visas and working in the island illegally, the island’s immigration chief said Monday. Most of the deportees were of South Asian origin and had entered Sri Lanka on tourist visas, Controller of Immigration and Emigration, […]

Deviltry

June 10, 2007 (LBO) – A popular folk story talks of a villager and a chance meeting of a demon in the forest and using his craftiness to get the demon to work for him. Therefore, the use of inflation as a measure for funding government budgets is not an advisable strategy for any government. […]

Ships cry for help as wild weather lashes Australia

SYDNEY, June 8, 2007 (AFP) – Rescue helicopters braved wild weather to airlift 21 crew members from a stricken freighter as pounding seas threatened to beach others on Australia’s east coast Friday.The Filipino and Korean crew on board the 30,000-tonne coal carrier Pasha Bulker, which ran aground off Newcastle harbour north of Sydney, were winched […]

Clear Rules

June 08, 2007 (LBO) – A top World Bank official Thursday warned of the dangers of governments accepting unsolicited proposals in public-private partnership projects, saying it could lead to controversy and corruption allegations. Governments accepting unsolicited proposals in public-private partnership (PPP) projects should introduce some form of competitive bidding, World Bank Country Director Naoko Ishii […]

” inflation with subsidies as prices spike

DHAKA, June 7, 2007 (AFP) – Bangladesh’s emergency government was Thursday set to announce a slew of subsidy and welfare measures in a 12.6 billion dollar anti-inflation budget. The interim government’s finance minister, A.B. Mirza Azizul Islam, would announce the budget in a pre-recorded speech to be broadcast by radio and television stations. The military-backed […]

Inflated Fines

June 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s capital markets watchdog is planning to impose stiffer penalties as part of an overall revamp of key statutes governing the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), a top official said. The authorities have recently introduced a new company law and new corporate governance rules are being made mandatory for listed […]

China central bank on guard over inflation in food prices

BEIJING, June 6, 2007 (AFP) – China’s central bank is on guard against the recent rise in food prices and might consider an interest rate hike to cool rising inflation, state media said Wednesday, citing the central bank chief. In a report to clients, Goldman Sachs forecast late last month that the rise in pork […]

Trend Setter

June 05, 2007 (LBO) – Richard Pieris, a Sri Lanka listed firm, has declared a cash dividend and a stock distribution under provisions of a new company law that came into effect last month.A bonus also increased the shares in issue without affecting the assets of the company, which has the same effect as a […]

” opponents

PANAMA CITY, June 3, 2007 (AFP) – The head of the Organization of American States opened a hemispheric summit late Sunday with a warning against “silencing” political opponents, a week after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez shut down an opposition television station.“The first duty of a democratic government is broadening democracy,” OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel […]

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