All Blogs
‘s cinnamon farmers seek divine help to spice up trade
SEENIGAMA, Sri Lanka, Dec 23, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka at the weekend revived an ancient ritual of offering the first cinnamon harvest to the gods, three years after a devastating tsunami wiped out centuries-old plantations here.Some 30,000 people are employed in chopping off cinnamon branches and turning out quills. In a pageant involving traditional […]
Satellite Maps
Dec 23, 2007 (LBO) – A mapping programme using satellite pictures will help Sri Lanka’s government do better planning and rebuilding in the tsunami-hit eastern and southern provinces, officials said. The French-funded Geographical Information System (GIS) project using high resolution satellite imagery costs almost a billion rupees. The detailed digital maps that can be prepared […]
Emirates braces for worst in Sri Lanka air talks
Dec 22, 2007 (LBO) – Emirates Airlines, managing shareholder of SriLankan Airlines, has indicated that it is preparing for a possible breakdown in contract renewal talks over an ongoing row where its top manager has been ordered out of the island. The chief executive officer of Sri Lankan airlines, Peter Hill, an Emirates appointee has […]
Money printing, oil subsidizing Iran, increases petrol ration
TEHRAN, Dec 22, 2007 (AFP) – Iran on Saturday started to allow motorists an extra 20 litres (5.2 gallons) of petrol a month under a rationing scheme aimed at cutting back on frenzied consumption, state television said. Many consumers in Tehran are obtaining additional petrol on the black market, paying three to five times the […]
Singapore to spend 1.4 billion US dollars to expand port: report
SINGAPORE, Dec 22, 2007 (AFP) – Singapore is set to spend two billion dollars (1.41 billion US) to increase its port’s annual capacity by about 40 percent, a newspaper reported Saturday. The project is scheduled for completion by 2013 and is expected to allow Singapore’s port to handle higher volumes from increased global trade, the […]
Asteroid could hit Mars next month: NASA
LOS ANGELES, Dec 21, 2007 (AFP) – An asteroid hurtling towards Mars has a one in 75 chance of chance of scoring a direct hit on the red planet next month, NASA experts said in a statement Friday.“Normally, we’re rooting against the asteroid (if it is threatening Earth),” Chesley said. “This time we’re rooting for […]
England fall to fifth in Test rankings despite Sri Lanka draw
DUBAI, Dec 22, 2007 (AFP) – England might have been scrambled to a rain-affected draw against Sri Lanka on Saturday, but the result could not prevent them from slipping three places to fifth position in the ICC Test Championship table.When time was called on the match in Galle on Saturday, England had battled to 251-6 […]
Sri Lanka Tiger key front line taken: defence ministry
Dec 22, 2007 (AFP) – Government forces captured a key defence line of Tamil Tiger guerrillas in northern Sri Lanka Saturday in fighting that killed six rebels and one soldier, the defence ministry said.Norwegian-brokered 2002 truce began to unravel in December 2005. Security forces smashed five bunkers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) […]
Easier Shipments
Dec 21 (LBO) – The threat of higher freight rates on Sri Lankan exports to Europe is easing, former Sri Lanka Shippers’ Council chairman Jayanath Perera said. Exporters were forced to pay high rates six months ago when a surge in Chinese exports led to space shortages for Sri Lankan cargo on ships calling Colombo […]
Watching Brief
Dec 21, 2007 (LBO) – Lanka Rating Agency said Friday it had placed BB3 rated Multi Finance Company on rating watch, pending a take-over from the Ceylinco group. Multi Finance, a small privately held finance company founded in the 1974, will initially get a 70 million rupee capital injection from Ceylinco Shriram Securities Holdings. Ceylinco […]