Sri Lanka stocks close at more than two-month high on blue chips, inflows

The Sri Lankan share index rose to a more than two-month high on Wednesday, led by blue chips and foreign inflows. The main stock index ended up 0.44 percent at 6,118.85, its highest close since Feb. 11. Though the day's turnover at 745.2 million rupees ($5.7 million) was less than this year's daily average of 980.6 million rupees, foreign buying accounted for 64.6 percent of turnover. Many local investors were in a holiday mood as the stock and currency markets are trading only on Wednesday and Thursday this week due to the Sinhala-Tamil new year, followed by Good Friday. The bourse saw net foreign inflows for a sixth straight session. Offshore investors bought 276.3 million rupees worth of stocks, though they have net sold 8.04 billion rupees of shares so far this year. Top conglomerate John Keells Holdings, which accounted for around 40 percent of the day's turnover, ended steady at 238 rupees. Commercial Bank of Ceylon, the top listed private lender, edged up 0.16 percent to 127 rupees. Analysts said the outlook was still positive due to prevailing lower interest rates. 

Pro-Russia forces intensify defiance in eastern Ukraine

Pro-Russia forces in eastern Ukraine intensified their defiance against Kiev on Wednesday, seizing half a dozen armoured vehicles and parading them through two towns. The escalating tension, a day after Kiev launched special operations against the separatists, prompted Nato to bolster its military presence on its eastern border, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the alliance’s secretary-general announced on Wednesday. “We will have more planes in the air, mores ships on the water and more readiness on the land,” he said. Aircraft would fly more sorties over the Baltic region and ships would deploy to the eastern Mediterranean and Baltic seas, Mr Fogh Rasmussen said, without giving specifics. Ukraine’s defence ministry admitted on Wednesday that anti-Kiev separatists had seized six of its armoured personnel carriers, saying it was done with the help of Russian agents. “A column was blocked by a crowd of local people in Kramatorsk with members of a Russian diversionary-terrorist group among them,” a statement said. “As a result of the blocking, extremists seized the equipment.” 

10 injured, 7 missing in China chemical plant blast

An explosion at a chemical factory today in East China’s Jiangsu Province has left ten people injured and seven others missing. The blast took place at Shuangma Chemical Plant in Rugao City, state—run Xinhua news agency reported. Ten people have been rescued from the scene and sent to hospitals, while seven others remain missing, it said. Firefighters have extinguished the flames, and the search for the missing is under way. Established in 1997, Shuangma Chemical Plant mainly produces stearic acid, fatty acid and glycerol. 

Pistorius Trial to Adjourn After Hearings Until May 5

PRETORIA, South Africa — The judge in the trial of Oscar Pistorius, the disabled track star accused of murdering his girlfriend, said on Wednesday that proceedings would be postponed after hearings end on Thursday, until May 5, two days before South Africa’s national election. The prosecution had sought the postponement on Tuesday to avoid scheduling conflicts with other cases. The Pistorius trial has already run far beyond the three weeks scheduled when it opened in early March, and has generated 2,000 pages of detailed testimony, Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa said. While May 5 may not be a “suitable” date because it comes so close to the elections, Judge Masipa said, “we are pressed for time.” “An accused is entitled to speedy justice,” the judge added. The prosecution said Tuesday that it wanted to attend to other cases, in which the accused were in detention. Mr. Pistorius, 27, is free on bail. 

Israel-PA peace talks postponed after West Bank terror attack

A meeting between Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed after the killing of an Israeli in a shooting attack in the West Bank. A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the session had been rescheduled for Thursday at the request of the United States. Washington is struggling to extend the talks, on the verge of collapse, beyond an April 29 deadline for a peace deal. 

Russia Sees Euro, Dollar Investments at Risk in Ukraine Backlash

Sanctions over Ukraine may threaten Russia’s investments in assets denominated in euros and U.S. dollars, Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said, urging the use of the nation’s wealth funds for domestic projects. “We should now very attentively study the risks of investing into dollar and euro securities, given the geopolitical situation we have right now,” Ulyukayev told lawmakers in Moscow today when questioned on whether returns on foreign securities are too low. U.S. and European sanctions triggered by President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last month stoked capital outflows and raised the specter of a recession as economic growth stumbled to a four-year low. With tensions escalating in the worst standoff since the Cold War, the U.S. and its European allies are threatening a new round of penalties against Russian interests if the crisis continues. 

New York City police disbands unit that watched Muslim communities

The New York Police Department has disbanded a controversial surveillance unit that targeted and monitored Muslim communities after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, a police statement said. The unit was set up in 2003 but has been largely inactive since Police Commissioner William Bratton took over the department this January, and its detectives have been reassigned, a statement from the NYPD said on Tuesday. The program deployed undercover detectives in Muslim neighborhoods to eavesdrop on conversations and watch day-to-day activities. Police also infiltrated mosques and student groups. Mayor Bill de Blasio criticized the program when he was campaigning for office last fall, and it was the target of lawsuits. "It has been determined that much of the same information previously gathered by the (Demographics Unit) may be obtained through direct outreach by the NYPD to the communities concerned," the police statement said. 

Hundreds missing as S Korea ferry sinks

Almost 300 people remain unaccounted for after a ferry carrying 459 people capsized and sank off South Korea. The ferry, carrying mainly school students, was travelling from the port of Incheon, in the north-west, to the southern resort island of Jeju. A major rescue effort is under way, involving dozens of ships and helicopters. Those brought to safety were taken to a nearby island. Four people are now said to have died and dozens of others have been hurt. South Korean officials had earlier said that 368 people had been plucked to safety, but later said there had been a counting error. They have now revised down the number rescued to 164. Images showed the ferry listing at a severe angle and then later almost completely submerged, with only a small part of its hull visible. It sank within two hours of sending a distress signal, reports said. There are fears this could turn out to be South Korea's biggest maritime disaster for more than 20 years, says the BBC's Martin Patience in Seoul. 

Sub Makes 2nd Dive to Search for Malaysian Plane

As a robotic submarine dove into the ocean to look for lost Flight 370, angry Chinese relatives stormed out of a teleconference meeting Wednesday to protest the Malaysian government for not addressing them in person. The Bluefin 21 sub surfaced early for the second time in as many missions, this time after experiencing technical difficulties. It was sent back underwater after its data were downloaded but there's been no sign of the plane yet, according to the joint agency coordinating the search. As the search continued, more than 100 relatives of Chinese passengers who were aboard the Malaysia Airlines plane walked out of a teleconference meeting with senior Malaysian officials, an act of defiance over a lack of contact with that country's government and for taking so long to respond to their demands. The family members had gathered in a meeting room at a Beijing hotel where Malaysia Airlines had provided them with lodging and food. But they stood up and filed out shortly before the call with Malaysia's civil aviation chief, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, and others as it was about to start.

Submersible Makes Third Attempt to Find Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Wreckage

PERTH, Australia—An unmanned submersible is making a third attempt to find the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines 3786.KU +2.38% Flight 370 on the seabed of the southern Indian Ocean after earlier sorties ran into technical difficulties, authorities said Wednesday. The U.S. Navy's Bluefin-21 was forced to resurface to rectify a technical problem part of the way into its 20-hour mission, Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre, which is leading the multinational search operation, said in a statement. While aboard the Australian naval vessel Ocean Shield, its data was downloaded and found nothing related to the plane. The vehicle was later deployed and is continuing its underwater search.It was the second such setback in an underwater search that began Monday. After completing about six hours of its first underwater search Monday, the submersible reached its operating depth limit of about 3 miles, and its built-in safety feature returned it to the surface, underscoring just how difficult its mission is. That search also found no evidence of the missing jet. 

Oscar Pistorius trial examines forensics

He took the stand after the Olympic sprinter's seven days of testimony came to an end with him reading a Valentine's card from his girlfriend. The athlete denies intentionally killing his Reeva Steenkamp in early hours of 14 February 2013. He says he shot her in the toilet, mistaking her for an intruder.The prosecution says the 29-year-old model and law graduate was deliberately killed after the couple had an argument. The double amputee Paralympic athlete faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder. On Tuesday, Mr Dixon, who is a defence witness, told the court his tests showed that with the light out, Mr Pistorius' bedroom would have been almost completely dark on the evening of the shooting, despite a couple of LED lights. This supports Mr Pistorius' evidence that he did not see whether Ms Steenkamp was still in bed when he got up

2 dead, more than 300 people missing as South Korea ferry sinks

Last updated on: 2014-04-16 14:15:51

SEOUL: More than 300 people were missing after a ferry sank off South Korea, the coastguard said on Wednesday, with a three-fold increase in the number of passengers unaccounted for put down to a miscalculation by officials. The ferry was carrying 477 people, of whom 164 were confirmed rescued, coastguard officials said. Two people were confirmed dead after the ferry listed heavily onto its side and capsized in apparently calm conditions off South Korea's southwest coast. The Ministry of Security and Public Administration had reported that 368 people had been rescued and that about 100 were missing. It later described those figures as a miscalculation, turning what had first appeared to be a largely successful rescue operation into potentially a major disaster.

Prosecutor wraps up Pistorius grilling

PRETORIA: The prosecutor in the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius ended his five-day cross-examination of the double amputee track athlete on Tuesday with a stark summary of how he shot his girlfriend, insisting he killed her deliberately after an argument. “You fired four shots through the door whilst knowing that she was standing behind the door,” said prosecutor Gerrie Nel, known in South Africa as “The Pitbull” for his hectoring style of questioning. “She was locked into the bathroom and you armed yourself with the sole purpose of shooting and killing her.” “That is not true,” said 27-year-old Pistorius, who faces life in prison if convicted of murder. On Tuesday he told the court he had pulled the trigger without thinking after hearing a noise behind the door, out of terror and fear that his and Steenkamp’s lives were in danger. 

Europe moves softly softly on Ukraine

Since the last European summit - when Europe's leaders warned Russia of further sanctions if there was no de-escalation of the crisis - events have moved fast on the ground. Pro-Russian militias, most of them armed, have seized buildings in nine eastern and southern Ukrainian towns. Four town halls have been occupied, as have two police headquarters, two buildings belonging to the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) and the regional administrative headquarters in Donetsk. The territorial integrity of Ukraine has already been weakened. The United States, Nato and most European leaders believe these actions are being supported by Russia with the intention of destabilising Ukraine. “ Start Quote Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Bildt If they [the Russians] escalate, then I think we should escalate” Carl Bildt Sweden's foreign minister Even the German government, which has been ambivalent about exerting pressure on the Kremlin, has concluded that "there are a lot of signs that armed gangs in eastern Ukraine are getting support from Russia".

Malaysia missing plane: Robotic sub continues search

A robotic submarine has continued its search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight on the seabed of the southern Indian Ocean. The mini-sub was deployed late on Tuesday, but was forced to resurface due to a technical issue, officials said. It has since been redeployed. The data downloaded from the mini-sub on Wednesday had "no significant detections", Australian officials add. Flight MH370 went missing on 8 March with 239 people on board. Air traffic controllers lost contact with it over the South China Sea while it was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Based on satellite data, officials believe it ended its flight thousands of kilometres off course, in seas west of the Australian city of Perth. However, so far not a single piece of debris from the jet has been found.

2 dead, 295 missing as South Korea ferry sinks

Nearly 300 people were still missing on Wednesday several hours after a ferry carrying 477, most of them high school students, sank in cold waters off South Korea’s southern coast, killing at least two and injuring seven, officials said. A government official earlier said that more than 100 people were still unaccounted for, but officials later changed the number to 295. There were fears of a big jump in the number of deaths, as dozens of boats, helicopters and divers scrambled to rescue passengers, who had been on the ferry travelling to the southern island of Jeju. One rescued passenger said he believed that many people had been trapped inside the ferry when it sank. The ferry sent a distress call at about 9 am (local time) on Wednesday after it began leaning to one side, according to the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. The government said about 95 per cent of the ferry, whose passengers included 325 high school students on a school trip to the popular tourist island, was submerged. Two Coastguard officers said that a 27-year-old woman named Park Ji-yeong and another unidentified person had died.