Category:
Sri Lanka rights activists quit panel in protest over killings
Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) – Four top Sri Lankan activists have quit a human rights panel in protest over the government’s failure to stop extra-judicial killings, abductions and illegal arrests, one of them said Monday.Nimalka Fernando said she and three other members of the advisory committee set up by the Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe […]
Big Airbus
TOULOUSE, France, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) – Airbus was to make the first delivery of its A380 superjumbo jet on Monday to Singapore Airlines, with elation and relief expected at a ceremony in southern France to mark the occasion. The heads of both companies were expected to hail a major advance in air travel as […]
Shangri La win bid to build luxury hotel in Male
COLOMBO October 14, 2007 (LBO) — Leisure operator, Shangri-La has been seltected to build a five-star city hotel in the Maldivian capital of Male, a senior minister said Sunday.. Shangri-La Maldives, which is currently building a 400-bed resort in the northern atoll of Villingili, is expected to complete the 200-bed city hotel by 2010, Tourism […]
BPO Training
Oct 14, 2007 (LBO) – The national training authority in Sri Lanka and a private business process outsourcing (BPO) firm plans to increase training of medical ‘transcriptionists’ to help tap higher value BPO work. BPO Services has tied up with the National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) to provide free medical transcription (MT) training […]
Jumbo Link
Oct 14, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will give a baby elephant to the Armenia zoo in exchange for veterinary training to an animal “suitable” for local conditions, a government minister said Sunday. Asokamala, the nine-year old female from the island’s elephant orphanage at the central village of Pinnawela will be sent to Armenia along […]
Zimbabwe consumer authority raises milk and other prices after shortages
HARARE, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) – The Zimbabwean government authorised Friday new increases in the prices of basis foodstuffs in a bid to ease widespread shortages that followed an order for retailers to halve their tariffs. The National Incomes and Pricing Commission announced it had approved rises of between 50 percent and 200 percent for […]
New IMF, World Bank heads face reform challenge
WASHINGTON, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) – The new heads at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund face the tough task of restoring credibility to the powerful financial bodies which hold an annual summit this month, analysts say.“Both (Robert) Zoellick and Dominique Strauss-Kahn are certainly competent people.But I don’t think it is so easy […]
‘s Fernando fires team to consolation win
COLOMBO, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) – Paceman Dilhara Fernando bagged a career-best haul of 6-27 to help Sri Lanka post a consolation 107-run win over England in the fifth and final one-day international here on Saturday.Man-of-the-match Fernando’s maiden bag of five or more wickets in an innings came in eight sharp overs as England crashed […]
Injury-plagued Flintoff to miss Sri Lanka series
LONDON, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) – England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will miss the Test series with Sri Lanka in December after undergoing keyhole surgery on his left ankle, the ECB said in a statement on Saturday.The injury-plagued Flintoff also looks likely to miss the tour of New Zealand in February and March next year as […]
Backdoor Fund
October 13, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s supreme court has been asked to probe the allocation of over 50 billion rupees in next year’s budget for unspecified spending outside the authority of parliament which has raised suspicions of a hidden fund. The Court is expected to announce this week if it will allow the case […]
EU to step up sanctions on Myanmar, ban timber, gems
BRUSSELS, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) – The European Union is set to beef up its sanctions against Myanmar next week by introducing an embargo on timber, gems and metals, according to a draft text agreed Friday.EU foreign ministers could approve the import bans — which would notably affect Myanmar’s teak and jade trade — when […]
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WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) – A former top US military commander in Iraq said Friday that the current White House strategy in Iraq will not achieve victory in the four-and-a-half-year war, which he described as “a nightmare with no end in sight.” In the bluntest assessment of Iraq by a former senior Pentagon official […]