Category:
US economic team to pressure China on exchange rates, intellectual property
WASHINGTON, Dec 10, 2006 (AFP) – A stellar cast of US economic leaders heads to China this week to press for the world’s manufacturing workshop to overhaul the desperately one-sided trade between the two nations.Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will head the US delegation for the inaugural meeting of a […]
Susanthika Jayasinghe comes second at Asian Games 100m
DOHA, Dec 9, 2006 (AFP) – Guzel Khubbieva of Uzbekistan won the women’s 100 metres title here at the Asian Games on Saturday.But Khubbieva, a two-time silver medallist at last year’s Asian Championships, had built up enough of a gap to hold her off while Al Ghasar came late to take third. The 30-year-old, a […]
Civilians in northeast Sri Lanka flee as death toll climb
COLOMBO, Dec 10, 2006 (AFP) – Some 3,000 civilians on Sunday were fleeing as heavy artillery duels in Sri Lanka’s restive northeast killed more than 110 people, including 41 civilians, according to rebels and security forces.More than 3,500 people have been killed in Sri Lanka in the past year. The bitter ethnic conflict that has […]
Artillery duels in Sri Lanka as Norway bid fails
Dec 9, 2006 (AFP) – Troops and Tamil Tiger rebels traded long-range artillery and mortar bombs in north-eastern Sri Lanka on Saturday, a day after a fresh Norwegian peace attempt failed, officials said. The two sides were exchanging long-range attacks in the district of Trincomalee where four soldiers and several civilians were wounded on Saturday, […]
Funny Money
December 08, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s main opposition party has said the government should investigate suspected money laundering transactions in the Colombo Stock Exchange, when the vote on the finance ministry’s budget was taken up in parliament this week. UNP Parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardene, a former deputy finance minister said Sri Lanka is gaining a […]
Buying Time
December 8, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Friday gave banks extra time till 2009 to top up their capital by five times, the Central Bank said, as some banks have fallen short of meeting a deadline set earlier. In April 2005, monetary authorities set the capital minimum capital limit for commercial banks’ at 2.5 billion […]
Sprouting Mobile
Dec 08, 2006 (LBO) – A top mobile phone maker expects the Sri Lankan handset market to grow by 25 to 30 percent next year as the country, as the country’s cellular operators reach out to rural customers. Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, has already experienced a surge in handset sales here since […]
Bangladeshi workers exploited to stock British discount chains: report
LONDON, Dec 8, 2006 (AFP) – Garment workers in Bangladesh are working 80 hours a week for just five pence (seven euro cents, nine cents) an hour to produce cheap clothes for British consumers, a report claimed Friday. Anti-poverty charity War on Want said the employees were also having to endure poor working conditions to […]
Sri Lanka to buy MiG aircraft from Ukraine
Dec 8, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is to bolster its air force by buying four Mig-27s from Ukraine as its battle with the Tamil Tiger rebels intensifies, a government minister said Friday. Policy Planning Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said Ukraine would also overhaul four identical ground attack aircraft already with the island’s airforce. The four […]
Norway fails to secure deal to lift Jaffna siege
Dec 8, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s peace broker Norway failed on Friday to secure an agreement to end a blockade on the Jaffna peninsula where nearly half a million people are trapped by fighting, officials said. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they told a Norwegian envoy to persuade the government […]
Cash Pile
December 07, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s NDB Bank Thursday teamed up with global money transfer giant Western Union, to tap the lucrative foreign remittances market, officials said. Around 1.5 million Sri Lankans working and residing overseas sent home 1,918 million dollars last year, and the island’s Central Bank expects the figure to hit 3.0 […]
Sri Lanka scales down tea production forecasts as trade union strikes continue
December 07, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is unlikely to reach last year’s tea production record, as trade unions strikes on estates since November over a wage hike, shows no signs of slowing. December production is likely to reach about 21 million kilos over the usual 25 million kilos. “The outlook for January too is not […]