Category:
Iran seeks to fingerprint all US visitors
TEHRAN, Oct 3, 2006 (AFP) – Iran’s conservative-controlled parliament is to debate a bill that would make digital fingerprinting compulsory for all US citizens seeking to enter the country, lawmakers said on Tuesday. According to the bill, which is expected to be voted on in the next days, “all US citizens should be controlled and […]
Air attacks dim Sri Lanka peace talk hopes
Oct 3, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan air raids against Tamil Tiger rebels Tuesday dimmed prospects of early peace talks between the two sides despite fresh attempts by Norway to avert a return to full-scale war, officials said.Israeli-built Kfir war planes pounded an area held by Tamil Tigers even as Oslo’s top envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer […]
Sri Lanka delays talks but rules out war to end ethnic bloodshed
Oct 3, 2006 (AFP) – Peacebroker Norway struggled Tuesday to bring Sri Lanka and Tamil Tiger rebels to the negotiating table and avert full-scale war as Colombo sought to delay any talks until at least the end of the month. The Sri Lankan government, which earlier had said it was ready for negotiations after a […]
Norway in talks with Tigers on saving Sri Lanka peace
Oct 3, 2006 (AFP) – A top Norwegian envoy headed for talks with Tamil Tiger rebels Tuesday in a fresh bid to save Sri Lanka’s troubled peace process, but cautioned that a quick fix to the conflict could not be expected.Special envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer is trying to get the Colombo government and the Liberation Tigers […]
Hard Facts
WASHINGTON, Oct 3, 2006 (AFP) – The low-cost allure of emerging economies for Western companies is overdone once the meagre productivity of their workers is factored in, a US business group said Tuesday.The Conference Board said that fast-growing economies in China, India and eastern Europe do enjoy a comparative advantage over the United States. But […]
Saudi Funds
October 03 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is in talks with Saudi Arabia to secure over 500 million dollars to expand the island’s oil refining capacity, with the state oil company hoping to fast track the project. “We are currently carrying out a feasibility study for the project and are also in talks with the Saudi […]
Sri Lanka halves foreign investment targets
October 3, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may miss its ambitious target of attracting a billion dollars in foreign investments and instead end the year with about 500 million dollars, according to official data. The tiny Indian Ocean Island attracts on average 250 million dollars worth of investments each year, despite an ethnic conflict that […]
Sri Lanka logs 8.0% growth Jan-Sept: Treasury Secretary
October 3, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economy has beaten most forecasts to lodge a ‘near’ 8.0 percent growth for the first nine months, the secretary of the island’s finance ministry said, with robust performance driven by strong services, manufacturing, construction and agriculture numbers. Central Bank’s statistics director Anila Dias Bandaranaike last week warned that: […]
Native Mobile
October 02 2006 (LBO) – Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, has sold over 5,000 handsets equipped with Sinhala language settings and keypads, since they were launched in Sri Lanka last week. Sri Lanka South Asian to offer mobile technologies way back in 1989, and the current 4-million subscriber market is split between Dialog […]
Four Play
October 02, 2006 (LBO) – Dialog Telekom has picked up a radio and television frequency license, which gives them the edge to rollout a host of infotainment services ranging from television to mobile phone services. A unit of Telekom Malaysia, Dialog picked up the frequency by acquiring a 90 percent stake in Asset Media (Pvt) […]
Global rules needed to curb trade in arms components: report
LONDON, Oct 2, 2006 (AFP) – Weapons merchants are profiting from the lack of an international judicial framework to supply arms to individuals with few human rights scruples and to states under embargo, a new report said Monday.The globalization of the weapons industry has shed light on the shortcomings of existing legislation to control it, […]
ADB official calls for Asia-wide FTA, but says common market far off
MANILA, Oct 2, 2006 (AFP) – Major obstacles block Asia’s prospects of becoming a common market, but a region-wide free-trade area is a realistic goal, an Asian Development Bank official said Monday.The Philippines-based lender said 183 free trade agreements have either been signed or are being proposed or negotiated across Asia, where the share of […]