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Commonwealth agree they must reform
PERTH, October 30, 2011 (AFP) – A Commonwealth summit bringing together world leaders from the 54-nation bloc closed Sunday agreeing on the urgent need to reform the grouping but without consensus on human rights. In a communique, they noted that a report from an “Eminent Persons Group” (EPG) set up at their last meeting to […]
Price Balance
Oct 30, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised pump prices by around 10 percent with petrol prices going up by 12.00 rupees a litre and diesel by only 8. 00 rupees, widening an already existing gap. The standard 90-Octane petrol will now cost 137 rupees at the pump and the premium 95-Octane 155 rupees. […]
India to open rival bids for $12 bn fighter deal
NEW DELHI, October 28, 2011 (AFP) – India’s Defence Ministry has invited the two rivals for a $12 billion jet fighter contract — France’s Dassault and the European Eurofighter consortium — to unveil their bids next week. The Dassault group is hoping to secure the contract for 126 jets, one of the largest military contracts […]
BlackBerry puts monitoring centre in India: report
MUMBAI, October 28, 2011 (AFP) – Research In Motion (RIM) has set up a facility in Mumbai to help the Indian government conduct surveillance checks on the company’s BlackBerry services, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday. The financial daily quoted unnamed people familiar with the matter who said the Canadian firm opened the centre […]
Sri Lanka airport crunch looming: official
Oct 29, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s sole international airport will face a capacity crunch soon with passenger traffic exceeding its design capacity by year’s end amid a post-war tourism boom, an airline official said. Another plan under consideration is to expand the terminal into the garden area. The Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) handled 5.26 […]
Sri Lanka stocks close up 0.39-pct, rupee up
Oct 28, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s stock close up 0. 39 percent with motor stocks gaining after strong results, brokers said. The Colombo All Share Index close at 6,348. 44,up 24.8 points recovering some losses, while the Milanka Index of liquid stocks rose 10. 98 points (0.19 percent) to close at 5,661.8 points. Diesel […]
Central Express
Oct 28, 2011 (LBO) – Eight firms, including from Malaysia and Korea have expressed interest in building a highway to Sri Lanka’s central hill city of Kandy, deputy highways minister Nirmala Kothelawala said. According to the preliminary data on Sri Lanka’s Road Development Authority website, the Kandy Colombo Expressway will be a 98 kilometre road […]
Land Concerns
Oct 28, 2011 (LBO) – A citizens group has raised concerns about a new process of resolving and proving ownership of land in former war zones, outside established procedures and the court system. In July 2011, Sri Lanka’s Commissioner General of Lands had issued a circular Regulating the Activities Regarding Management of Lands in the […]
Mobile Trend
Oct 28, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan mobile phone operator Dialog Axiata’s September 2011 quarter group net profit fell 17. 7 percent to 1.4 billion rupees from a year ago with sharply higher tax costs as well as finance expenses. Sales rose 10.3 percent to 11.7 billion rupees. Diluted earnings per share rose to 26 […]
Android Forum
Oct 28, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Etisalat cellular network said it will host a forum on Android, an operating system for mobile devices, with experts from Google, smartphone makers will be taking part. “The goal of the Android Forum is to give the public a chance to see the limitless possibilities that will be […]