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Sri Lanka bomb defused at bus station: police
April 28, 2008 (AFP) – A powerful bomb was found and defused at a crowded bus station in northwestern Sri Lanka early Monday, minutes before the device had been set to go off, police said. The parcel bomb equipped with a timing device was discovered in Galgamuwa, some 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of the […]
Sri Lankan garments get easier access to India
April 28, 2008 (LBO) – India has lifted a rule that required three million pieces of Sri Lankan garments allowed duty to free to India to be made from Indian fabric and also lifted entry port restrictions, the Commerce Department said. . Another five million pieces of garments would be allowed in duty free or […]
Sri Lanka exporters say govt giving wrong signals on EU trade
April 28, 2008 (LBO) – A dispute over Sri Lanka’s duty free access to key European markets has snowballed into a political hot potato with exporters alarmed that remarks by the country’s central bank governor could prompt buyers to look elsewhere. Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s comment that market access under the GSP+ scheme was a […]
Sri Lanka power supply fails
April 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka was plunged in darkness shortly after nightfall Monday as the power grid operated by state-run Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) failed for the third time this year. Pulleperuma said the cause for the failure would be investigated later. CEB General Manager Ranjith Pulleperuma said power had failed to most […]
Global giants bid for 12-bln-dlr Indian fighter deal
NEW DELHI, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – Global aviation giants on Monday submitted bids to sell 126 warplanes to India — the world’s richest fighter aircraft deal worth 12 billion dollars, the companies said.Six aeronautical companies from Russia, the United States and Europe offered their proposals to the Indian defence ministry well before an official […]
Bin Laden tycoon aims to build Arab-Africa sea bridge
DJIBOUTI, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – Moses once parted the Red Sea … now Osama bin Laden’s half-brother is planning to build a bridge over it. Building on engineering feats such as the Channel Tunnel between England and France, the Panama Canal linking the Atlantic to the Pacific and the Suez Canal joining the Mediterranean […]
Vietnam rice prices surge to catch-up with world amid surplus production
HO CHI MINH CITY, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – Vietnam’s government Monday said the country has sufficient rice stocks and threatened to punish speculators who hoard rice for profit after price surges triggered a run on the staple grain.Many supermarkets and street stalls quickly ran out of rice in Ho Chi Minh City at the […]
Oil prices hit intraday record near 120 dollars
SINGAPORE, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – World oil prices hit an intraday record near 120 dollars a barrel on Monday after the shutdown of a major North Sea pipeline added to supply worries, analysts said.New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, touched 119.93 dollars a barrel in electronic deals […]
Iranian president touch down in Pakistan before Sri Lanka vist
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, April 28, 2008 (AFP) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived Monday in Pakistan for a brief visit to meet the country’s new government and his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf.Ahmadinejad’s plane touched down at Chaklala Airbase in Rawalpindi, a garrison city adjoining Islamabad, where an air force honour guard greeted him on the tarmac, […]
Sri Lanka mangrove conservation scheme gathers pace
April 28, 2008 (LBO) – A program to conserve Sri Lanka’s mangrove eco-systems is gathering pace with the support of coastal communities, government and private sector organizations, officials said. The Mangroves for the Future (MFF) initiative launched with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is also working […]