Category:
Standard &”s credit outlook
Apr. 27 (LBO) – International rating agency Standard & Poor’s Thursday lowered Sri Lanka’s credit outlook to negative from stable, amid escalating violence and fears that the island may slip back to war. However, S&P warned: “The country’s external liquidity could come under pressure if war causes reduced foreign exchange inflows from tourism and tourism-related […]
United Front
DHAKA, April 27, 2006 (AFP) – Health ministers from seven South Asian nations have decided to develop a common strategy to combat bird-flu in the region, a statement said Thursday.The health ministers said after their meeting in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka Wednesday that “an impending pandemic influenza” posed a threat to the region’s 1.40 billion […]
Arrest Quest
Apr. 27 (LBO) – Seven persons who were caught promoting the GoldQuest network marketing scheme have been arrested in southern Sri Lanka, police said. Central Bank has now established a special investigation unit to look into pyramid scams, referral frauds, as well as other violations of laws administered by the regulator. The seven who were […]
‘s secret service trawls for new talent
LONDON, April 27, 2006 (AFP) – Britain’s secret service, famed for lurking in the shadows, launched its first overt recruitment operation on Thursday, calling on men and women who are looking for a challenge.For the first time in its 97-year history, MI6, the country’s foreign spy agency, published an open advertisement in a newspaper. “From […]
Chinese car lust drives battery boom, bust in Kenya
ATHI RIVER, Kenya, April 27, 2006 (AFP) – China’s rapid expansion into Africa in search of fuel to feed its booming development needs is leaving a profound mark on the continent’s economies, often in little noticed sectors. And as Kenya hosts Chinese President Hu Jintao on his last stop in a three-nation African tour, the […]
‘s Afridi withdraws retirement from Test cricket
KARACHI, April 27, 2006 (AFP) – Pakistani allrounder Shahid Afridi has withdrawn his temporary retirement from Test cricket, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Thursday.Afridi, 26, shocked his team when he announced earlier this month that he was giving up the longer form of the game until after the 2007 World Cup to concentrate […]
Masked gunmen bring death to a Sri Lankan village
SERUVILA, Sri Lanka, Apr. 27 (AFP) – The two men who came to kill her and her family wore masks and spoke Sinhalese, a wounded Josep Devi, wincing in pain, said from her hospital bed in this northeastern Sri Lankan town Thursday.“I managed to save my baby by rolling on her as I fell when […]
Mine blasts kill five security personnel in Sri Lanka
Apr. 27, 2006 (AFP) – At least five security personnel were killed in three separate Claymore mine attacks in northern Sri Lanka Thursday, the military said. Three soldiers were killed and two wounded in Mannar district while two sailors riding a motorcycle were blown up in the Kayts islet, a military official said. He said […]
Sri Lanka to give aid to refugees fleeing violence
Apr. 27 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Thursday set aside one million dollars in aid for thousands of people who fled their homes after an upsurge in violence in the northeast. President Mahinda Rajapakse named a retired naval officer to head a “Presidential Task Force” to allocate the relief money to displaced civilians, an official […]
Sri Lanka: Ethnic melting pot on the boil
Apr. 27 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil separatist conflict is rooted in the nation’s history, but the past three decades have been the bloodiest on an island colonised by Europeans and invaded by Indians.At least 60,000 people have been killed since minority Tamils took up arms in 1972, about 24 years after the Indian Ocean […]
Five headless bodies found in Sri Lanka
Apr. 27 (AFP) – Five headless corpses were found in central Sri Lanka but police said Thursday the incident was not linked to the island’s conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels.The bodies were found in two places about 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of the capital, police said. “We suspect they may have been killed due […]
Tigers seek foreign pressure to halt air attacks
Apr. 27 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels Thursday pleaded with the international community to pressure Sri Lanka’s government to prevent further air strikes against them and to save a ceasefire from complete collapse.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they were “distressed” over the lack of foreign concern at the strikes carried out by […]