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Sri Lanka counts on US$1.5 bn aid from foreign donors this year
January 12, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka hopes to secure over a billion dollars in aid pledges when foreign donors meet later this month to discuss the island’s economic health, and attempts to resolve the ethnic conflict, a senior official said Friday. The Indian Ocean Island secured 1.1 billion dollars in foreign aid last year, […]
Sri Lanka to use local messaging system for government debt deals
January 11, 2007 (LBO) – Primary dealers have welcomed a Central Bank decision to use a locally developed messaging system to transact small deals in the government debt market which will cut costs and make it cheaper to service small clients.Primary dealers would be allowed to use local messaging through the wide area network connecting […]
Sri Lanka tourism slumps in Dec, authorities pin hopes on India and Middle East
Jan 11, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s leisure industry closed 2006 a neck ahead of the previous year, but the troubled island saw a sharp downturn December, as internal strife intensified and travel advisories kept visitors away. Sri Lanka lured 559,603 visitors last year, a slim 1.9 percent jump over 2005, but fell far short […]
”s latest draw card for foreign travellers
January 11, 2007 (LBO) – Scouting treetops for purple-faced leaf monkeys or on the trail of the shy loris at nightfall, Sri Lanka’s rich primate life could become a draw card for foreign travellers with a taste for the wild. The tiny island off the tip of India is home to at least five species […]
Oil prices slide under 53 dollars
LONDON, Jan 11, 2007 (AFP) – World oil prices sank below 53 dollars per barrel on Thursday to mid-2005 low points on healthy US energy stockpiles and warm weather in the northern hemisphere. The latest sharp falls have sparked speculation that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries could soon hold an emergency production meeting. London’s […]
Brainstorming
LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Jan 10, 2007 (AFP) – Porn makers at the world’s largest sex trade show in Las Vegas on Wednesday were taking a page from Internet superstars such as YouTube by tapping into the power of social networking. Fresh young start-ups at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo weren’t just saucy women in scanty […]
Irish banknotes massively tainted with cocaine
DUBLIN, Jan 11, 2007 (AFP) – Irish researchers found traces of cocaine on every single banknote contained in a random sample tested in a study of drug contamination of currency, Dublin City University (DCU) said on Thursday. Researchers voiced suprise at the 100 percent figure, which compares for example to a recent US study which […]
Sri Lanka troops take Tiger base after killing four
COLOMBO, Jan 11, 2007 (AFP) – Elite police commandos captured a key Tamil Tiger base Thursday after killing four guerrillas in a confrontation in eastern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said.Sri Lanka troops take Tiger base after killing four The police Special Task Force commandos took the base known as “Janaka” in the district of […]
Travel Subsidy
Jan 10, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka government is planning to inject more subsidies into the loss making, heavily unionized state bus service, following violent protests by workers connected to a Marxist nationalist party, a senior government minister said. Transport Minister A H M Fowzie said he was in talks with the Treasury to get […]
Morning After
January 10, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon plans to sell off shares owned in NDB and DFCC Bank this year, to top up a gap in its pension fund, a senior official said Wednesday. Sri Lanka’s largest bank in terms of assets, is carrying a two billion rupee gap in its […]