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Sri Lanka to hold early elections: state radio
October 13, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will hold presidential and parliamentary elections before April next year, state radio announced Tuesday, in the wake of the military’s defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels in May. The presidential poll, which was due by November 2011, will now be held before April 2010, the Sri Lanka Broadcasting […]
Sri Lanka Tamil Tiger suspects on trial for Paris racket
PARIS, October 12, 2009 (AFP) – Twenty-two suspected Tamil Tiger rebels went on trial Monday for running an extortion racket among Paris’s ethnic Tamil diaspora to fund their separatist struggle in Sri Lanka.The defendants include Nadaraja Matinthiran, the alleged leader in France of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is accused of extorting […]
Sri Lanka post-war prospects scouted by US firms
Oct 13, 2009 (LBO) – American firms are scouting for business opportunities in post-war Sri Lanka in anticipation of accelerated economic growth, officials said.Senior executives, mainly from top US companies in India, are in Colombo for talks with Sri Lankan firms and government agencies. US investments could help rebuild the war-ravaged economy and contribute to […]
Sri Lanka central bank holds rates amid low inflation
Oct 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank is holding its main policy rate steady at 10.50 percent amid low inflation, expecting the effect of previous cuts to spread wider into the banking system. Weak Credit In the year to August private sector credit was down 4.6 percent according to Central Bank data, while […]
Sri Lanka asks expats help rebuild war-hit regions
October 12, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Monday announced plans to tap its expatriate community to help rebuild the island’s war-ravaged areas and encourage much-needed foreign investments.President Mahinda Rajapakse has invited leading Sri Lankans abroad for a meeting to discuss investment opportunities following the crushing of Tamil separatists in May after nearly four-decades of […]
Sri Lankan shares close 0.5-pct up
Oct 12, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares closed up Monday due to heavy price gains on index heavy counters Distilleries Company and Commercial Bank pushed market up, while first ever close-ended fund makes positive debut, brokers said. The All Share Price Index closed up 0.5 percent (15.95 points) to end at 3,131.29, while the […]
Sri Lanka September tourist arrivals up
Oct 12, 2009 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals into Sri Lanka in September 2009 rose 28.6 percent to 37,983 from a year ago, with strong growth from key European, East Asian and south Asian markets, the Tourism Authority said.The number of visitors from south Asia shot up by half to 13,072, with Indian arrivals rising 54.3 […]
India industrial output surges
NEW DELHI, October 12, 2009 (AFP) – India’s industrial output surged by a better-than-expected 10.4 percent in August, official data showed Monday, which analysts say could raise pressure on the central bank to hike interest rates.The strong year-on-year figures came on the back of double-digit growth in the manufacturing, mining and electricity sectors. Analysts were […]
Great recession: Danger or opportunity for Sri Lanka?
Oct 12, 2009 (LBO) – It is worth discussing the assessment of a Nobel Laureate of the Great Recession and its implications for Sri Lanka. Michael Spence, who shared the 2001 Economics Nobel with Joseph Stiglitz and George Akerlof and chairs the Growth and Development Commission believes that the key problem is the one trillion dollar […]
Indonesia detains 260 Sri Lankan migrants: police
BANTEN, October 11, 2009 (AFP) – Indonesia detained about 260 Sri Lankan migrants in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra while attempting to make their way by wooden boat to Australia, police said Sunday.Indonesia is a key staging point for people smugglers bringing Afghans and other nationals for a perilous onward sea journey to […]
Most hostages freed after deadly Pakistan army HQ siege
by Masroor Gilani RAWALPINDI, October 11, 2009 (AFP) – Three hostages and four militants were killed early Sunday as Pakistani troops stormed a building to end an almost 20-hour siege outside army headquarters near Islamabad, officials said. At least 25 people had been snatched by suspected Taliban gunmen, who tried to storm the nuclear-armed nation’s […]
Anger grows among Sri Lanka detained refugees: rights group
October 11, 2009 (AFP) – A quarter of a million Tamil civilians detained in state-run camps since the end of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict are in an increasingly “tense and ugly” situation, a rights group said Sunday. Deteriorating conditions, drinking water shortages and the imminent monsoon have raised tensions among the detainees and sparked clashes […]