Category:
Sri Lanka tightens use of mobile phones to fight terrorism
July 12, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Saturday tightened mobile phone regulations and forced service providers to maintain full details of phone users as part of anti-terrorism moves. Sri Lanka, which has a population of 20 million people, has 12 million telephone subscribers, of which 10 million are mobile phones, Kariyapperuma said. Phone operators were […]
Sri Lanka says 18 Tamil Tigers killed in fighting
July 12, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s defence ministry said Saturday troops had destroyed Tamil Tiger bunkers and killed 18 rebels in fighting in the north of the island.Casualty figures on both sides cannot be independently verified as the defence ministry bars journalists from travelling to the frontlines.The military put its own losses at 20 […]
Beijing skyline rises faster, higher, stronger
BEIJING, July 12, 2008 (AFP) – As the waves of tourists converge on Beijing over the next month for the Olympics, they will look up to see a stunning new skyline that China’s leaders hope will showcase the nation as a modern world power. Thirty years ago the city was a poverty-stricken backwater studded by […]
Oil prices top 147 dollars per barrel
NEW YORK, July 11, 2008 (AFP) – Oil prices rocketed to records above 147 dollars on Friday as traders seized on the weak US currency, simmering tensions over crude producers Iran and Nigeria and news of a looming strike in Brazil.New York’s main oil contract, light sweet crude for August, hit a historic peak of […]
Dog off the menu for Olympic restaurants: Chinese media
BEIJING, July 11, 2008 (AFP) – Beijing’s official Olympic restaurants have been banned from offering dog meat to avoid offending foreign visitors, state press reported on Friday.The ban, issued by the Beijing Catering Trade Association, forbids all 112 official Olympic restaurants from offering dog meat dishes, and urges other eateries to take pooches off the […]
Sri Lanka yet to resolve England tour crisis
July 12, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan cricket’s governing body has yet to resolve the crisis over next year’s England tour that clashes with a more financially lucrative tournament in India, officials said Saturday.A source at Sri Lanka Cricket dismissed local media reports indicating the board had agreed to allow players to take part in […]
Sri Lanka shares rise, CDIC stake changes hands
July 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan share prices ended higher Friday with a big deal between two banks pushing up turnover to over a billion rupees and indices rising on gains in Dialog Telekom and John Keels Holdings.There was some trading in plantations stocks although volumes were thin, he said. Updated The All Share […]
‘s June tourist arrivals fall 9.3-pct
July 11, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka attracted fewer holidaymakers in June, the island’s main tourism promotion authority said Friday, blaming the drop in the number of visitors on the country’s ongoing ethnic conflict. Arrivals in June fell 9.3 percent to 27,960 from 30,810 reported a year earlier and totalled 224,363 in the first half […]
Maldives finance minister resigns
July 11, 2008 (LBO) – The finance minister of Maldives has resigned amid speculation that he may launch his own presidential bid through a different party, media reports from the archipelago said.The Minivannews.com, a web based news service, said finance minister Gasim Ibrahim had given his resignation to president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, but the president […]
Sri Lanka bus shooting toll rises
July 11, 2008 (AFP) – At least four people were killed and 26 injured Friday when Tamil Tiger rebels opened fire on a bus in southern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said. The incident took place just south of the capital Colombo in Buttala, police said, adding that the injured had been taken to nearby […]
Sri Lanka bus shooting kills three
July 11, 2008 (LBO) – Three people died and 16 were injured when gunmen opened fire on a passenger bus in Southern Sri Lanka in an area where Tamil Tigers have previously targeted civilians, the military said. The military said a passenger bus traveling to from Moneragala in the Uva province to Kataragama in Southern […]
Indian inflation at 11.89 percent
NEW DELHI, July 11, 2008 (AFP) – India’s annual inflation rate rose to 11.89 percent as the price of manufactured goods, food and fuel increased, according to the latest government data on Friday.The figure for the week ended June 28 was up from 11.63 percent for the previous week, according to the Wholesale Price Index, […]