All Blogs
‘s western province, bad policies worsen it elsewhere
February 08 (LBO) – Economic reforms has slashed poverty in Sri Lanka’s western province while backward policies that kept agriculture stagnant in rural areas were trapping people in poverty, researchers have found. Poverty in the western province fell from 19 to 11 percent between 1991 and 2002, with the region growing at twice or three […]
Sri Lanka government treasuries edge up in tight conditions
February, 07 (LBO) – Sri Lanka treasuries yields edged up by an average 24 basis points at Wednesday’s auction, the public debt office reported, but dealers said cut-off rates had moderated from a week earlier.The weighted average yield for all maturities went up to 13.64 percent from 13.4 percent a week earlier. Three month bills […]
Tech Assisted
Feb 07 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to get help from global Information Technology company Microsoft, to revamp local IT literacy skills, currently ranked lower than other South Asian countries. Director of public sector programs for Microsoft, Vincent Quah says, the ICT literacy level among Sri Lanka’s population is around 10 to 15 percent compared […]
Asia drives patent growth trend in 2006: WIPO
GENEVA, Feb 7, 2007 (AFP) – Chinese international patent applications more than doubled in 2006, reflecting a “changing geography of demand” along with other Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, the World Intellectual Property Organisation said on Wednesday.China filed 3,910 patents under the aegis of WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 2006, up […]
India and Sri Lanka tune up for World Cup
KOLKATA, India, Feb 7, 2007 (AFP) – India and Sri Lanka get an early chance to size up each other ahead of the World Cup when they play a four-match limited overs series starting here on Thursday.Both teams are drawn together in group B of the World Cup preliminary rounds alongside Bangladesh and Bermuda, with […]
Call to free detained journalists in Sri Lanka
Feb 7, 2007 (AFP) – International media rights groups have demanded the release of three Sri Lankan journalists who went missing earlier this week in the capital Colombo.Media organisations have described Sri Lanka as one of the most dangerous places for journalists in South Asia. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged President Mahinda Rajapakse […]
Oil Deposit
February 07, 2007 (LBO) — Sri Lanka has asked governments of India and China to make a 100 million dollar deposit each, for securing a block to explore oil off the shores of the island, a top official said.“Out of the eight identified oil blocks we have given one each to India and China on […]
Wrong Country
GENEVA, Feb 6, 2007 (AFP) – A group of Sri Lankans who paid for jobs in the Gulf were locked into a building site in Iraq for two weeks before they realised they were in the wrong country, an international agency said Tuesday.The 17 Sri Lankan migrant workers, who had paid 2,000 dollars each to […]
US congressmen ask Bush to appoint peace envoy for Sri Lanka
WASHINGTON, Feb 5, 2007 (AFP) – A group of 38 US lawmakers have asked President George W.Bush to appoint a special envoy to help bring about peace in conflict-ridden Sri Lanka. The legislators from the House of Representatives said in a letter to Bush that they were troubled by renewed violence and a rising number […]
Blast injured count climbs to 17
COLOMBO, Feb 6, 2007 (AFP) – At least 17 people were hurt Tuesday when a grenade was accidentally detonated during a demonstration by a police officer at an exhibition in the capital marking Sri Lanka’s independence, police said.. Headline corrected “We have ruled out anyone hurling a grenade at the stall of the STF (Special […]