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Sri Lanka stays pat on key interest rates
January 18, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank Thursday left its key policy rates at current levels, amidst soaring inflation, which is giving savers negative returns. The repurchase rate stays at 10.0 percent while the reverse repurchase rate, which it pumps cash into the system remains at 11.5 percent, the bank said following its […]
In a stroke
January 18 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is banning the import of three-wheeler taxis that use two-stroke piston engines from next year, to reduce pollution in urban areas, a senior minister said.Two stroke engines emit particles and unburnt hydrocarbons that are polluting the environment,†Information Minister Anura Yapa said. The air-quality in Colombo has deteriorated with […]
Herbal Remedy
Jan 18, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is promoting the cultivation of herbs used in indigenous medicine, through a network of farm villages, in a bid to cut down the cost of imports, a government minister said. Sri Lanka has a separate ministry for indigenous medicines which runs a network of Ayurvedic hospitals, medical centres […]
Indian Visitor
January 18, 2007 (LBO) – India’s Bharti Airtel Ltd has been tentatively picked to take up a slot as Sri Lanka’s fifth mobile phone operator, the island’s telecom watchdog said Thursday. “We have issued an offer letter to Bharti, who have a month to make a 4 milllion dollar payment to collect the license,” Telecommunications […]
Off Air
Jan 18, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka stopped mobile phone services for nearly half a million users in the island’s embattled east as government troops were locked in combat with Tiger rebels, an official said Thursday.More than 60,000 people have died during the 35-year ethnic conflict as minority Tamils fight for an independent homeland. Despite […]
Political pressure blocks rate hike?
Jan 18, 2007 (AFP) – The Bank of Japan decided against raising its ultra-low interest rates Thursday in the face of fierce political pressure, backing down in a standoff that has put its credibility into question.After a week during which government officials had lined up to publicly urge the central bank not to gamble the […]
After Microsoft and Google, Belgian newspapers go after Yahoo
BRUSSELS, Jan 18, 2007 (AFP) – After taking action against Microsoft and Google, Belgium’s French-speaking newspapers are seeking redress from another Internet search engine, Yahoo, their lawyer said Thursday.“We sent a letter of formal notice to Yahoo yesterday” so that it will stop publishing articles from Belgian newspapers on its search engine without prior authorisation, […]
Sri Lanka violence claims two more lives
Jan 18, 2007 (AFP) – A soldier and a civilian were killed in fresh violence in Sri Lanka’s north as troops and Tamil Tiger rebels traded mortar fire in the restive east, the defence ministry said Thursday.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) killed one soldier with a rocket-propelled grenade fired at troops manning a […]
Jaffna Power
January 18, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s power utility has signed up a new independent power supplier for the northern Jaffna area, and extended the contracts of two existing emergency suppliers, a senior government minister said. Sri Lanka based Cool Air has operated a 15 MW plant in Jaffna from 2002. Agrekko set up its […]
Sri Lanka bids to recover swindled millions
Jan 18, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka plans to sue heads of state agencies where crooked deals and kick-backs are believed to have cost the government over a billion dollars, the government’s chief whistle blower said Thursday. The head of the parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises, or COPE, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, said the state will try […]