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Bangladesh launches $130 laptop for schools
DHAKA, October 11, 2011 (AFP) – Bangladesh on Tuesday unveiled a $130 locally made laptop that it hopes will help bridge the digital divide in the impoverished South Asian country. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unveiled the Doel — or magpie — laptops at a ceremony in the capital Dhaka, saying the computer, made by state-owned […]
‘s friend quizzed over trips
LONDON, October 11, 2011 (AFP) – British officials interviewed a close friend of defence minister Liam Fox Tuesday to ask why he had joined the politician on many overseas trips despite having no government role, a source said. Adam Werritty, Fox’s former flatmate and best man at his wedding, was questioned by civil servants a […]
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LONDON, October 10, 2011 (AFP) – British Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday his defence minister had made “serious mistakes” in allowing a close friend to operate as his advisor despite having no official government role. He nevertheless has a key role in the coalition government in pushing through defence spending cuts, as part of […]
US Nobel economists longtime friends, rivals
WASHINGTON, 2011 (AFP) – Christopher Sims and Thomas Sargent are friendly rivals whose careers have tracked each other’s from the time they were Harvard doctoral students to Monday’s announcement that they had both won the 2011 Nobel Economics Prize. As it happened, Sims and Sargent, both 68, were teaching a class together at Princeton University […]
US duo win Economics Nobel for macroeconomic work
STOCKHOLM, (AFP) – US researchers Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims won the 2011 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for their work on macro-economics and government economic policymaking, the Nobel jury said. This year’s laureates “have developed methods for answering … questions regarding the causal relationship between economic policy and different macro-economic variables, such as GDP, […]
Sri Lanka foreign reserves at US$8.05bn in August: data
Oct 10, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s gross foreign reserves were 8,050 million US dollars by the end of August 2011, only slightly lower than the 8,098.8 million US dollars reported in July, Central Bank data showed. In August the central bank had sold 197. 6 million US dollars in foreign exchange markets to commercial […]
Sri Lanka stocks end down 0.4-pct
Oct 10, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks resumed their slide Monday, after a slight rally Friday broke a thee-day fall, with a large deal in Laugfs Gas accounting for the bulk of turnover, brokers said. Renuka Agri Foods was the fourth most actively traded stock, closing at 7. 60 rupees, up 20 cents, with […]
Quarterly Result
Oct 10, 2011 (LBO) – A provision reversal at People’s Leasing Company which is going public next month came due to it following international financial reporting standards (IFRS), which do not permit general provisions, an official said. People’s Leasing is selling 390 million shares at 18 rupees a share. After the IPO the firm will […]
Banking Ventures
Oct 10, 2011 (LBO) – Banks in countries like Sri Lanka could look at joint ventures with big Western financial institutions seeking to expand in emerging markets, a senior American banker said. Joint ventures between Western and local banks make better sense than big foreign banks trying to compete in emerging markets against local players, […]
Sri Lanka tourist arrivals up 27-pct in September
Oct 10, 2011 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose 27. 2 percent to 60,219 in September from a year earlier, helped by surging arrivals from India and China, though British visitors fell, official data showed. In the nine months to September 2011, total arrivals rose 34. 3 percent to 598,006. During the month […]