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Satellite Partners
Dec 22, 2009 (LBO) – Two Malaysian telecom firms have expressed interest in taking part in a communications satellite project promoted by Sri Lanka’s telecom regulatory commission, a top official said.Sri Lanka wants to launch a geo-stationary satellite in the next three years, at an estimated cost of some 150 million US dollars and has […]
‘s plastics
HAWTHORNE, December 22, 2009 (AFP) – Frederic Scheer is biding his time, convinced that by 2013 the price of oil will be so high that his bio-plastics, made from vegetables and plants, will be highly marketable.Cereplast, which has 25 employees in California and in Indiana, has accumulated a series of patents for the technology it […]
Italian winemakers first to invest in India: company
NEW DELHI, December 22, 2009 (AFP) – Two Italian winemakers have become the first foreign producers to invest directly in India, seeking to tap into a growing taste for the drink in the emerging market, their Indian partner said Tuesday.Riona Wines, based in the western Indian state of Maharastra, the country’s grape-growing centre, told AFP […]
Sri Lanka October exports dip but recovery underway
Dec 22, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports in October fell five percent from a year ago, the lowest decline so far this year, dragged down mainly by lower apparel exports, although tea exports were up, the Central Bank said.But the export recovery which began in April after last year’s slump is continuing, despite a […]
Sri Lanka banks gain as stocks hit new high
Dec 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks closed at a new high Monday, up 1.43 percent, with banks drawing interest as retail investors re-entered the market, gaining confidence from last few week’s foreign trading, brokers said. The benchmark Colombo All Share Price Index (ASPI) closed up 1.43 percent (45.46 points) to end at 3,234, […]
Connected
Dec 21, 2009 (LBO) – A highway to Sri Lanka’s north is seeing free movement of people and goods for the first time in decades after the final restrictions on traffic were removed from Monday.Following a ceasefire with the Tigers in 2002, the road was opened but the Tigers collected tax on goods moving along […]
Sri Lanka Aitken Spence to manage Ramada Hotel in Delhi
Dec 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence Hotels group said it has struck a deal to run the new Ramada Hotel & Convention Centre in New Delhi scheduled to open in February or March next year. Aitken Spence Hotels said in a statement its latest foray into the Indian market is meant to […]
Iran Bound
SEOUL, December 21, 2009 (AFP) – A planeload of weapons from North Korea seized in Bangkok this month was bound for Iran, a newspaper report said Monday, citing documents obtained by arms trafficking experts.US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair had said last week that the 35-tonne cargo, shipped in defiance of UN sanctions on […]
Refugee Drama
JAKARTA, December 20, 2009 (AFP) – Fifteen of the Sri Lankan asylum seekers who spent weeks refusing to get off the boat that rescued them near Indonesia have left the country, a foreign ministry official said Sunday.“They left Indonesia yesterday.Two were flown to Australia and the other 13 were taken to an evacuation centre in […]
Sri Lanka says asked by UN to answer new war crime charges
December 21, 2009 (AFP) – The United Nations has asked Sri Lanka to explain allegations by a former army general that surrendering Tamil rebel leaders were killed in cold blood in mid-May, the government said on Monday. The presidency in Colombo said the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, sought […]