Category:
Sri Lankan peacekeepers sent home over Haiti sex scandal
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 2, 2007 (AFP) – More than 110 Sri Lankan peacekeepers serving with the UN mission in Haiti are to be sent back home over charges that they paid for sex, the United Nations said Friday, in the latest such scandal to besmirch the world body. Most of the nearly 100,000 troops serving […]
” arrested in Britain
LONDON, Nov 2, 2007 (AFP) – Colonel Karuna, the leader of a breakaway faction of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers rebel group, has been arrested in Britain and is being held in immigration detention, the interior ministry said Friday.A 2002 truce brokered by Norway began to unravel in December 2005, and since then more than 5,400 […]
Too Slow
Nov 02, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s motor trade is lobbying the government to discourage used car imports and change import duty to make brand new vehicles more affordable. The Ceylon Motor Traders’ Association (CMTA) says the government has still not responded to repeated proposals to restructure vehicle tax regulations and introduce a method of […]
Fresh Face
Nov 02, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s newest registered finance company, Swarnamahal Financial Services (SFS), kicked off this week offering a range of lending and deposit products. CEO Hafeez Rajudin says the company, a unit of the EAP group, will soon open two branches in Kandy and Colombo. In addition to hire purchase and leases, […]
Spending Power
Nov 02, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan conglomerate Hemas Holdings has reported a sharp fall in net profit for the September quarter as high inflation erodes consumer spending and high interest rates make borrowing for investments more costly. Group net profits fell 44 percent to 166 million in the second quarter ending September 2007, according […]
Happy Shopping
Nov 02, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan media management and marketing services company, has tied up with a UK firm to offer retail design and research to optimize revenues, officials said. Vanguard Management Services has tied up with Shopworks, a UK consultancy which has worked with retailers like Tesco, Carrefour, Wal-Mart as well as […]
Indian court lets man divorce HIV positive wife
NEW DELHI, Nov 2, 2007 (AFP) – An Indian court has granted a man permission to divorce his HIV-positive wife on the grounds that he could no longer enjoy sex with her, a report said Friday. Judge Rajnish Bhatnagar found in favour of the unnamed husband noting that “marriage without sex is anathema,” the Hindustan […]
Indian inflation fall to 5-year lows with prudent monetary policy
NEW DELHI, Nov 2, 2007 (AFP) – India’s inflation rate is pursuing a steady decline around five-year lows, official data showed Friday.Annual inflation fell slightly to 3.02 percent for the week ended October 20 from 3.07 percent for the previous week, according to the wholesale price index, India’s most watched cost-of-living monitor. Inflation stood at […]
Fed printing press scares global markets
TOKYO, Nov 2, 2007 (AFP) – Asian stocks suffered heavy losses in early trade Friday after initial euphoria on Wall Street over the US interest rate cut faded quickly as fresh credit jitters rattled global markets.Indices around the region fell by as much as nearly three percent after tumbles in New York and Europe on […]
Bangladesh gets independent judiciary
DHAKA, Nov 1, 2007 (AFP) – Bangladesh’s government on Thursday gave up its executive control over the judiciary, ending a practice that dates back to British rule over the Indian subcontinent. The move to free up the courts from politics is a key element of sweeping reforms being put in place by the country’s emergency […]
Anti-doping sleuths arrive in Sri Lanka for Rugby championship
November 02, 2007 (LBO) — The International Rugby Board’s anti-doping inspectors arrived in the Sri Lanka to kick off the Asian Rugby championship which starts in Colombo later this week, officials said Friday. Tim Ricketts, the board’s anti-doping Manager, will lead the panel during the nine-nation event which runs from November 3-10. “We will do […]
Who is Thamilselvan?
Nov 2, 2007 (AFP) – The political head of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels who was killed in an air strike on Friday was the guerrillas’ public face for scores of visiting dignitaries and media personnel.“It is always wrong to place us on a par with international terrorist acts that bring harm to innocent civilians […]