Author: lbostgadmin
Sri Lanka slams UN chief
September 11, 2008 (AFP) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon came in for tough criticism Thursday from Sri Lanka’s government, which accused him of unwittingly helping Tamil Tiger rebels. Responding to the UN chief’s concern over civilians displaced by heavy fighting in the north of the island, a Sri Lankan government rights official said a […]
Venezuela expels US ambassador, threatens to cut oil
CARACAS, September 12, 2008 (AFP) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expelled the US envoy to Caracas late Thursday and threatened to halt crude exports to the United States on a day he highlighted the recent arrival of two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers. Chavez on Thursday ordered US ambassador Patrick Duddy to leave the country within […]
Sri Lanka power utility to start net metering
Sept 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s power distributors are to start net metering, where customers would be able to generate small amounts of renewable energy, ‘export’ to the national grid, and only pay for the ‘net’ amount of electricity used.A note to cabinet said the proposal would encourage customers to generate their own electricity […]
Bomb explodes in Sri Lankan capital: police
COLOMBO, September 11, 2008 (AFP) – A bomb exploded on a railway track in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on Thursday, the second such blast in as many days, but there were no casualties, police said. The blast caused little damage to the railway line at Sedawatte, a slum area of the city, a police […]
Suspected US missile kills 12 in Pakistan: official
MIRANSHAH, September 12, 2008 (AFP) – A missile from a suspected US drone killed 12 people Friday in a Pakistani tribal area where US forces have been aggressively targeting Al-Qaeda militants — fuelling anger from its key “war on terror” ally. The missile hit a house on the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in […]
Cyber Education
Sept 12, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is starting post-graduate university courses using broadband mobile links provided by Mobitel, a celco, to remotely lecture students, officials said.The mobile learning of ‘mlearning’ system was developed by the University of Colombo, Mobitel and the IT firm Microsoft. “This is a hybrid system of learning, which includes traditional […]
Bank Rating
Sept 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Fitch Ratings has confirmed the ‘AA(lka)’ rating of state-run Bank of Ceylon, with ‘stable’ outlook, and said its exposure to the government had fallen, though it remained high.Fitch said the bank’s ‘Individual’ rating at ‘D/E’ and ‘Support’ rating at ‘4’, reflected its systemic importance as the largest bank […]
Exploration Spend
Sep 11, 2008 (LBO) – Cairn India said its Sri Lanka unit had signed a deal with Sri Lanka’s investment promotion office to cover a 110 million US dollar oil exploration program. The company was given an off-shore exploration block in the north western Mannar Basin of the island. “The Mannar basin is a frontier […]
‘s Mendis named ICC emerging player of the year
DUBAI, September 10, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s new spin sensation Ajantha Mendis was named as the International Cricket Council (ICC) emerging player of the year at an awards ceremony here Wednesday.Players eligible for this award must be under 26 years of age at the start of the voting period (August 9 2007) and have […]
Major quake shakes northern Japan, tsunami warning
TOKYO, September 11, 2008 (AFP) – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook northern Japan on Thursday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, which warned of mild tsunami seismic waves. The undersea earthquake occurred at 9:21 am (0021 GMT) about 20 kilometres deep (12.4 miles) off Hokkaido island’s Tokachi region, some 700 kilometres north of Tokyo, the agency […]
‘t agency
WASHINGTON, September 11, 2008 (AFP) – US Department of the Interior employees who handled billions of dollars in oil contracts improperly engaged in sex with energy company employees, a report released Wednesday said. The report drafted by the department’s inspector general Earl Devaney deplored “a culture of ethical failure” and said the investigation uncovered a […]
Kuwaiti shares nosedive on cash drain
KUWAIT CITY, September 11, 2008 (AFP) – Kuwaiti stocks ended the week through Thursday down six percent on lack of cashflow drained by huge IPOs and a strict monetary policy to combat inflation, analysts said. The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) Index finished the week at 13,123.90 points, the lowest level in eight months. The index […]