All Blogs
Hasty Exit
Sept 04 (LBO) – The government has shelved a bidding round for oil exploration until it sorts out a battle with Norwegian company TGS Nopec to buy up three years worth of seismic data. TGS Nopec conducted seismic surveys in the Mannar Basin since 2002, with the government trying to buy back the data for […]
Sri Lanka refutes Nordic monitors over massacre charge
Sept 3, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Sunday stepped up its campaign against Nordic truce monitors who accused government forces of involvement in the killing of 17 employees of a French aid charity last month.After accusing the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) of being “biased” and “unprofessional,” the office coordinating the peace process […]
Sri Lanka fighting hits lull
Sept 3, 2006 (AFP) – Fighting between troops and Tamil Tigers near a key northeast port hit a lull Sunday, residents said, a day after 80 rebels were reportedly killed in a sea battle off the northern Jaffna peninsula.Artillery guns were silent in the restive port district of Trincomalee since the weekend, residents said, adding […]
India lays out five-year roadmap to freer rupee convertibility
NEW DELHI, Sept 2, 2006 (AFP) – India should make the rupee more freely convertible over the next five years to realise the country’s “maximum” economic potential, a central bank committee has urged. Such a move to loosen curbs on trading the rupee against other currencies would rank as one of India’s biggest economic reforms. […]
Bangladesh shipping firms suspend use of port, halting trade
CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, Sept 2, 2006 (AFP) – Bangladesh’s trade shipments ground to a virtual halt Saturday as shipping firms refused to use the nation’s main port in a protest over container fees. “Most of the private shipping companies have today (Saturday) suspended transporting cargoes to and from Chittagong port,” Chittagong Port Authority chairman Shahadat Hossain […]
Sri Lanka sends more supplies to Jaffna
Sept 2, 2006 (AFP) – A second cargo ship was loaded here Saturday with supplies for desperate residents of Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna peninsula, where the navy said it killed 80 Tamil rebels in a fierce six-hour sea battle.The vessel containing food, drugs and other essential goods was slated to leave Sunday on a two-day […]
Sri Lanka navy says killed 80 rebels in sea battle
Sept 2, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy killed at least 80 Tamil Tiger guerrillas after a six-hour battle with a flotilla of rebel boats off the island’s northern waters Saturday, the defence ministry said.The boats of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were trying to attack the northern port of Kankesanthurai at the […]
James Finlays sees export revenues fall on low value added tea sales
September 01, 2006 (LBO) – James Finalys & Company says its export revenues fell for the six months to June as the firm shipped more low value added bulk tea to overseas buyers. Finlays, one of Sri Lanka’s top tea exporters, also felt the pinch of rising prices at weekly tea auctions, as its island’s key […]
India to increase tea imports as production hit
GUWAHATI, India, Sept 1, 2006 (AFP) – India, the world’s largest tea producer, will boost tea imports to cover growing domestic demand despite an expected production shortfall blamed on a heat wave, officials said Friday. This year, the country is likely to increase tea imports to 25 million kilograms (55 million pounds) from last year’s […]
Cable Landing
September 01, 2006 (LBO) – Lanka Bell, one of Sri Lanka’s privately held wireless telecom operators, is in talks with India’s FLAG Telecom to lay an undersea cable linking both countries. The 25 million dollar deal is due to be inked shortly, with the cable also extended from Sri Lanka to the Maldives. “Once finalised […]