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Europe to lose 1,000 flights to volcanic cloud: Eurocontrol
BRUSSELS, May 17, 2010 (AFP) – The volcanic ash cloud playing havoc with airline schedules will mean the loss of 1,000 flights in Europe on Monday with airports in Britain and the Netherlands hit, the Eurocontrol agency said. The cloud was however expected to disperse over the day, Europe’s intergovernmental air traffic coordinating agency said, […]
Sri Lanka Tokyo Cement sets up unit to sell excess power
May 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) has set up a fully-owned subsidiary to sell excess electricity from a power plant at a cement factory to the island’s national grid. The company said in a stock exchange filing the subsidiary, Tokyo Cement Power (Lanka), will start commercial operations after getting the […]
Sri Lanka slammed over civilian deaths, one year after war end
May 17, 2010 (AFP) – The Sri Lankan government killed thousands of its civilians by shelling “no-fire zones” in the last months of the country’s decades-long civil war that ended a year ago, an independent group said Monday. The Brussels-based International Crisis Group urged the United Nations and Sri Lanka’s aid donors to press for […]
Sri Lanka state revenues up in February: data
May 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state revenues picked up sharply in February 2010 to 108. 6 billion rupees in the first two months, up 17 percent from a year earlier, containing the budget deficit at around last year’s level, despite rising current spending, official data showed. Current expenses rose 7.2 percent to 181.3 […]
Margin Gains
May 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank of Ceylon said group profits grew 24 percent in the March 2010 quarter to 1,107 million rupees from a year earlier as interest margins improved and loan loss provisions fell. Amid low loan growth the group’s government securities held-to-maturity portfolio rose to 106 billion rupees from […]
India slowly gets to grips with ecommerce
MUMBAI, May 16, 2010 (AFP) – Vipul Modi is a busy high court lawyer in India’s financial capital Mumbai. Like many people, he uses the Internet to buy rail and airline tickets as well as pay his utility bills. Yet when it comes to buying other products online, the 44-year-old has misgivings, particularly about the […]
Sri Lanka wary of Tiger revival abroad one year after war
May 16, 2010 (AFP) – One year after Sri Lanka’s army wiped out the Tamil Tigers, there are no signs of the rebel group’s revival at home, but concerns remain about extremist fund-raisers abroad. The government has highlighted meetings abroad planned to coincide with the first anniversary of the LTTE’s military defeat as a fresh […]
Britain on lookout after ash disrupts Northern Ireland airspace
LONDON, May 15, 2010 (AFP) – British aviation authorities were keeping a close eye Sunday on the possible return of a cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland after it forced the closure of parts of Northern Ireland’s airspace. The NATS said it was working closely with weather forecasters and the Civil Aviation Authority — Britain’s […]
Sub-standard lights force change in first US event
FORT LAUDERDALE, May 15, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka and New Zealand will play only two Twenty20 matches next week in the first full internationals to take place in the United States because of sub-standard floodlights at the venue. “The Black Caps are tremendously excited about the opportunity of launching international cricket in the United […]
Fiery World
NEW ORLEANS, May 16, 2010 (AFP) – US officials have told BP to clarify what costs it will pay for cleanup of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, with crews employing new tactics Saturday to stem the leak as globs of oil wash ashore in new sites. The latest effort by British Petroleum to […]