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‘s first LKR2,000 note to debut on Oct. 17
October 9, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to issue its maiden 2,000 rupee note on October 17, to keep pace with island’s galloping inflation, the central bank said Monday. The new note was in the making for nearly six-years with the bank taking stock of the currency last November. “This ‘Heritage series’ currency note […]
Flying Free
Oct 09, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka and India opened talks on Monday to free up air services between the countries, ahead of Colombo designating new carriers to fly international routes. Sri Lanka has about 59 bilateral agreements with different countries, though its uses just about 19 of them. “We are basically asking for more […]
Better Perks
October 9, 2006 (LBO) – Unions affiliated to Sri Lankan state banks are pressing for a second pension for staff who joined after 1996, though existing pension funds are short by billions of rupees. Prior to 1996, all state bank employees were given a pension, besides the statutory Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees Trust […]
Toy Story
Oct 09 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has brought in restrictions on imports of remote controlled toys fearing the remote control unit and the frequency band can be used to set off explosive devises, officials said Monday. The regulations limit the frequency radius of ground and water toys to ten metres while aircrafts or any […]
Clean Drink
October 9, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Monday signed up for 20.5 million euros or a 2.67 billion rupee loan from the Dutch government to improve the drinking water facilities in six rural towns. Disbursed through Denmark™s Nordea Bank, the interest free loan falls under the Danish mixed credit programme where repayments are spread over […]
Catchy Numbers
TEHRAN, Oct 9, 2006 (AFP) – Ever wanted the mobile number 123456789?In Iran it can be yours, if you have tens of thousands of dollars to spare. The Islamic republic’s telecommunication officials have decided to auction off hundreds of catchy number sequences and use the profits to shore up the cumbersome Iranian mobile phone network, […]
Always On
DHAKA, Oct 9, 2006 (AFP) – AlwaysOn Network, Inc.of the United States will invest 60 million dollars to provide Internet services to most of Bangladesh within 10 years, a government spokesman said Monday. The company signed an agreement with the information and communication technology ministry on Sunday to establish Internet services in each of the […]
Scientists pore over data from NKorea blast
PARIS, Oct 9, 2006 (AFP) – Scientists took a dour wait-and-see attitude after North Korea claimed to have successfully conducted a nuclear test on Monday.Only careful analysis of data returned by seismic or atmospheric sensors will say whether the blast was a success or a damp squib, they said. Nor could they rule out the […]
US economist Edmund S. Phelps wins Nobel Economics Prize
STOCKHOLM, Oct 9, 2006 (AFP) – US economist Edmund S.Phelps won the 2006 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for work on trade-offs in macroeconomic policy, the Nobel jury said, noting that his work had improved understanding of how policy affected welfare for present and future generations. List of Nobel Economics Prize laureates 2006: Edmund S. […]
Workers appeal for tighter rules in shipbreaking industry
LONDON, Oct 9, 2006 (AFP) – Indian shipbreaking workers on Monday called on industry chiefs meeting in London Monday for tighter regulations to cut the number of serious injuries and deaths in the sector, particularly in Asia.“We need the help of the world, we need the help of the people to help the workers,” Vidyadhar […]