Category:
Myanmar junta warns against more protests
YANGON, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) – Myanmar’s military regime warned its people Tuesday not to join a swelling nationwide protest movement that has escalated into the most potent threat to their hardline rule in nearly 20 years. Local government officials using loudspeakers rode trucks through central Yangon warning against new anti-junta protests, a day after […]
Maldives goes for a sovereign rating
September 25, 2007 (LBO) — The Indian Ocean Island of Maldives hopes to use its upcoming sovereign rating to help local firms raise cash in international markets, the atoll’s finance minister said. A sovereign or country rating serves as an indication of a nation’s ability to repay its debt and is a key requirement to […]
Sri Lanka violence leaves 16 more dead
COLOMBO, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) – Sixteen people were killed and 39 others injured as security forces clashed with Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka’s embattled north and east, the two sides reported Tuesday.More than 60,000 people have died since the LTTE launched a military campaign for an independent state for minority Tamils in 1972.Four […]
Sri Lanka media watchdog sounds alarm over moves for new clampdown
Sept 25, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Free Media Movement (FMM), a media rights watchdog, said Monday it was concerned over an alleged government move to ban reporting on arms purchases. “If such regulations are intended to be promulgated, FMM calls on the government to desist from such a regressive course of action forthwith.” The […]
Sri Lanka opposition renews warning on sovereign bond
Sept 24, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s opposition has renewed its warning that a planned sovereign bond has no parliamentary sanction and a future government made up of the current opposition will “cancel” the bond. The opposition United National Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had warned HSBC Bank, a joint lead manager of the bond deal, […]
Biometric Banking
Sept 24, 2007 (LBO) – ICICI Bank, India’s second-largest bank, is planning to demonstrate in Sri Lanka its smart card technology that helped create innovative products and take banking to rural India, even to illiterate farmers, a top official said. Chanda Kochhar, Deputy Managing Director of ICICI Bank, said its technology partner Financial Information Network […]
Cell Finance
Sept 24, 2007 (LBO) – International Finance Corporation, the private sector financing arm of the World Bank inked a 100 million financing deal Monday with Sri Lanka’s biggest mobile phone operator, Dialog Telekom.Washington-based IFC will lend 70 million dollars in debt, while the balance will be used to buy shares from Dialog’s parent company, Telekom […]
” impact: IMF
WASHINGTON, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) – The turmoil stemming from the US subprime property loan market and tighter credit will have a “far-reaching” impact on the world economy, the International Monetary Fund said Monday.“Downside risks have increased significantly and even if those risks fail to materialize, the implications of this period of turbulence will be […]
Spacious nuclear-proof missile base as your new home
WASHINGTON, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) – Looking for a new home with a bit more space as well as a 1950s Cold War ambiance? A US intercontinental ballistic missile base, equipped with a vast underground network of tunnels and rooms but no atomic warheads, is for sale in a remote corner of the United States. […]
European Central Banks concerned over French budget deficit
PARIS, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) – European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet said Sunday that France’s public finances were in “very great difficulty” with the worst public spending to output ratio in the European Union. “I would say that French public finances are in very great difficulty,” Trichet said in an interview on Europe 1 […]
Greenspan bashes Bush, defends own record
WASHINGTON, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) – Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said Sunday the US economy has a better than evens chance of beating a recession but warned that a housing slowdown could hit spending hard. “We’re heading for a slowdown,” he said on NBC in the latest television appearance to publicize his new […]
India win Twenty20 title after rousing finale
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) – Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s young Indian team snatched the inaugural Twenty20 world title after defeating arch-rivals Pakistan by five runs in a thrilling final on Monday.Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi was declared the player of the tournament despite falling for zero in the final. The Indians, restricted to 157-5 after electing […]