All Blogs
After protests, new Bangalore airport opens
BANGALORE, India, May 24, 2008 (AFP) – India’s gleaming new Bangalore international airport opened Saturday despite protests by residents and businesses who said getting there by road could prove a nightmare.The state-of-the-art 630-million-dollar facility sprang into life after a court threw out pleas by local people to keep the existing airport open for commercial flights. […]
Microsoft closes the book on online library
SAN FRANCISCO, May 23, 2008 (AFP) – Microsoft said Friday it is ending its quest to create an online library of the world’s books as the technology titan revamps its strategy to battle Internet search king Google.Live Search Books and Live Search Academics projects are being cancelled and the websites will be taken down next […]
Indonesia hikes fuel prices despite protests
JAKARTA, May 24, 2008 (AFP) – Indonesia hiked the cost of fuel by around 30 percent Saturday in response to soaring global oil prices and a ballooning subsidy bill, leaving hard-pressed households facing even more economic woe. Long queues formed at petrol stations ahead of the announcement late Friday that prices would rise by an […]
” for peace, reconciliation: scholar
May 24, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should commemorate the 25th anniversary of the July 1983 riots and put forward its best offer to the Tamil people as part of a political offensive to end the war and find peace and reconciliation, a US scholar said. William Grassie, a senior Fulbright Fellow, said the commemoration […]
Steep Rise
May 24, 2008 (LBO) – After dragging their feet for months Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) jacked up diesel prices by an unprecedented 37 percent and petrol by 23 percent, while a unit of Indian Oil Corporation said it would follow suit. An International Monetary Fund study said this week that commodity markets […]
Sri Lanka stocks close lower on Dialog Telekom worries
May 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks closed 0.51 percent lower Friday affected by a 75 cent drop in the share price of Dialog Telekom after it released quarterly results showing profit falling by half, brokers said. Total turnover was 301.8 million rupees with 9.9 million in volume trade. The All Share Price Index […]
Direct Credit
May 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s People’s Leasing is getting 10 million US dollars from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which it can start lending within the next 30 days, a top official said. People’s Leasing inked a deal Friday with the ADB to lend to the small and medium enterprises in the island. […]
Sri Lanka Hilton wins global hotel chain brand award
May 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hilton hotel has won the regional and global Hilton brand awards for 2007, beating some 500 hotels across the world, a statement from the ministry of tourism said. The Hilton Colombo was judged the best hotel in Asia in the balanced scorecard category which measures a hotel’s performance […]
Sri Lanka tourist trade lures Arab travelers
May 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s April tourist arrivals dropped ten percent to 29,747 compared to the same period last year, despite a surge in visitors from the Middle East, a market where the island is being promoted in a new campaign, the Tourist Board said. The highest drop in arrivals of twenty five […]
e-Winner
May 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s digital self learning initiative, ‘Shilpa Sayura’, emerged winners in the education category of the Stockholm Challenge 2008 in in Sweden, the state ICT Agency (ICTA) said. The Stockholm Challenge awards were started in 1994 and is now owned by the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. The […]