All Blogs
Sri Lanka media watchdog slams govt, Tamil Tigers
May 03, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Free Media Movement (FMM) has said media freedom in the island remains under threat by both parties to the internal conflict, the government and the Tamil Tigers. In a World Press freedom day statement, the media watchdog urged an immediately halt to all threats, harassment, abductions and attacks […]
Sri Lankan shares becalmed; Lanka Cement up
May 02, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares closed virtually flat Friday in thin trading with Lanka Cement, which has been moving on speculative trading, ending firmer, brokers said. The All Share Price Index was barely changed, up just 2.78 points (0.11 percent) to 2,635.74 while the more liquid Milanka index fell 1.98 points (0.06 […]
Toll Expressway
May 02, 2008 (LBO) – The highway from the Sri Lankan capital Colombo to hill country town of Kandy will be developed into a toll expressway at a cost of 30 billion by a Malaysian contractor, a senior government official said Friday.“We have an offer from Malaysia, a consultancy firm, and they have prepared their […]
Port Race
May 02, 2008 (LBO) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Friday it has reached agreement with the Sri Lankan government on a 300 million dollar loan to go ahead with a long-delayed project to expand Colombo port. Although the new south port project was approved by ADB early last year, changes in government bidding […]
Ship Building
May 02, 2008 (LBO) – Colombo Dockyard, Sri Lanka’s sole listed ship builder, said it plans to invest 473 million rupees this year to upgrade yard infrastructure to meet growing demand for ship building and repair work. The yard, a subsidiary of Japan’s Onomichi Dockyard Co., which provides management. and technical expertise, anticipates it will […]
Sri Lankan tea prices ease, crops on the rise
May 02, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices have begun to decline with the end of the western quality season and increasing crops, brokers said. “The market is coming down because of high crops and because seasonal quality is over,” said a broker. “Now the Colombo market is very attractive, almost in line with […]
Fighting kills 35 in Sri Lanka: military
May 2, 2008 (AFP) – At least 34 Tamil Tiger rebels and a soldier died in the latest battles in the island’s restive north, the defence ministry said Friday.Security forces smashed rebel bunkers and engaged in artillery fire with Tamil separatists in the regions of Vavuniya, Jaffna, Mannar and Weli Oya on Thursday killing 34 […]
Emirates profits rise by half despite high fuel costs
May 02, 2008 (LBO) – Dubai’s Emirates Airlines, which owns a big stake in Sri Lanka’s national carrier, has reported group net profits increased 54.1 percent to 1.45 billion dollars for the financial year ended March 31, 2008. Group revenues rose 32.3 percent to 10.8 billion dollars during the period, the airline said in a […]
”: UN expert
PARIS, May 2, 2008 (AFP) – The UN’s new top advisor on food blamed two decades of wrong-headed policies by world powers for the food crisis sweeping the globe, in a stinging interview published on his first day in office Friday.Frenchman Olivier de Schutter, a law professor and human rights campaigner, told Le Monde newspaper […]
Non-stop media coverage of US campaign comes in for critique
WASHINGTON, May 2, 2008 (AFP) – Americans say the media are devoting too much ink and airtime to the US presidential race, amid growing criticism that news coverage has focused on the superficial instead of important issues.Half of the public, 51 percent, say news outlets are offering “too much coverage of the campaign,” according to […]