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US Internet users going mobile: study
SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, 2008 (AFP) – A comScore study released Tuesday shows US mobile Internet use is rising exponentially as people increasingly opt to be online while on the move.The comScore study indicates more than half the US mobile broadband use is done from work computers and that more than 75 percent of the […]
China targets 4.8 percent inflation in 2008
BEIJING, March 5, 2008 (AFP) – China has set an inflation target of around 4.8 percent for 2008, according to the text of a speech Premier Wen Jiabao is to deliver to the national legislature later Wednesday. Wen will deliver the speech when parliament opens around 9:00 am (0100 GMT). The speech was given to […]
Philippine inflation at 5.4 percent in February
MANILA, March 5, 2008 (AFP) – Inflation in the Philippines rose to 5.4 percent in February, its highest level since October 2006, the government said Wednesday. The figure was a sharp increase on the 2.6 percent posted for the same period last year and up on the January inflation rate of 4.9 percent. Core inflation, […]
Sri Lanka television worker slashed with razor
Mar 05, 2008 (LBO) – A librarian working for a Sri Lanka state television station where a junior minister was held hostage after he stormed its newsroom had been knifed while travelling on a bus, an official said. .Updated Convenor of the Sri Lanka’s Free Media Movement (FMM) Sunanda Deshapriya said Ranjini Aluthge is being […]
Sri Lanka drifting towards dictatorship: civil society
Mar 05, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan civil society groups Wednesday warned that the government’s contempt for the rule of law and the constitution was bringing the country into disrepute and could cause economic harm. The Organisation of Professional Associations said way President Mahinda Rajapakse and the government was ignoring established norms of good governance […]
Sri Lanka intimidation of journalists condemned by rights group
March 05, 2008 (LBO) – Media rights group Reporters Without Borders has condemned attacks against Sri Lankan journalists who exposed by live broadcast an assault by a junior cabinet minister on a state TV station news director. It said in a statement that the authorities appeared more concerned with probing journalists who resisted the assault […]
Sri Lanka business should demand better governance not subsidies: senior executive
March 05, 2008 (LBO) — A senior business executive urged Sri Lankan businesses not to ask for subsidies which were needed for a safety net for the poor that is hardest hit by inflation, but ask for better governance and economic management.“What the private sector should ask for is good governance, good macro-economic management and […]
Sri Lanka shares driven up on SLT trades ahead of court ruling
Mar 04, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks extended gains on Monday to close higher Tuesday, pushed up by speculative trading in index-heavy Sri Lanka Telecom, brokers said.The All Share Price Index gained 28.71 points or 1.13 percent to close at 2,562.25 while the more liquid Milanka went up 41.08 points or 1.29 percent to […]
Commercial Profits
March 4, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Bank group reported net profits of 4.1 billion rupees double that of last year, while revenues grew 44 percent to 35.2 billion rupees in 2007. The bank’s deputy chairman B R L Fernando said last year’s profits were depressed by a one-off pension buy back and ‘normalised’ […]
Chief Shuffle
Mar 04, 2008 (LBO) – HSBC’s Sri Lanka and Maldives operations would be headed by Nick A Nicolaou, a senior banker who had been with the group from 1977, the bank said in a statement. David J H Griffiths who headed the Sri Lanka-based HSBC unit will be taking over HSBC New Zealand on April […]