Author: lbostgadmin
China says foreign direct investment up 45.6 percent
BEIJING, July 11, 2008 (AFP) – Foreign direct investment into China grew by 45.6 percent in the first half of this year, the government said Friday.Foreign enterprises invested 52.4 billion dollars in China from January to June, the commerce ministry said in a statement posted on its website. The ministry did not give separate data […]
Indian inflation at 11.89 percent
NEW DELHI, July 11, 2008 (AFP) – India’s annual inflation rate rose to 11.89 percent as the price of manufactured goods, food and fuel increased, according to the latest government data on Friday.The figure for the week ended June 28 was up from 11.63 percent for the previous week, according to the Wholesale Price Index, […]
Sri Lanka bus shooting kills three
July 11, 2008 (LBO) – Three people died and 16 were injured when gunmen opened fire on a passenger bus in Southern Sri Lanka in an area where Tamil Tigers have previously targeted civilians, the military said. The military said a passenger bus traveling to from Moneragala in the Uva province to Kataragama in Southern […]
Sri Lanka bus shooting toll rises
July 11, 2008 (AFP) – At least four people were killed and 26 injured Friday when Tamil Tiger rebels opened fire on a bus in southern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said. The incident took place just south of the capital Colombo in Buttala, police said, adding that the injured had been taken to nearby […]
Maldives finance minister resigns
July 11, 2008 (LBO) – The finance minister of Maldives has resigned amid speculation that he may launch his own presidential bid through a different party, media reports from the archipelago said.The Minivannews.com, a web based news service, said finance minister Gasim Ibrahim had given his resignation to president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, but the president […]
‘s June tourist arrivals fall 9.3-pct
July 11, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka attracted fewer holidaymakers in June, the island’s main tourism promotion authority said Friday, blaming the drop in the number of visitors on the country’s ongoing ethnic conflict. Arrivals in June fell 9.3 percent to 27,960 from 30,810 reported a year earlier and totalled 224,363 in the first half […]
Sri Lanka shares rise, CDIC stake changes hands
July 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan share prices ended higher Friday with a big deal between two banks pushing up turnover to over a billion rupees and indices rising on gains in Dialog Telekom and John Keels Holdings.There was some trading in plantations stocks although volumes were thin, he said. Updated The All Share […]
Sri Lanka token strike gets off to quiet start
July 10, 2008 (LBO) – A one day token strike called by Sri Lanka’s opposition parties got off to a peaceful start with slightly reduced traffic in the capital Colombo and most public services operating as usual, officials and residents said.Sri Lanka’s state-run railways system’s chief Lalithasiri Gunaruwan said train services were operating normally but […]
Sri Lanka strike forces minister, state workers, to boost productivity
July 10, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s post minister, one of a coterie of 108 ministers in the island, said he had personally got the postal service moving during a one-day token strike, while the head of an over-staffed state enterprise wished for strikes every day. There has been no general strike in the island […]
Sri Lanka western province economic dominance slips
July 10, 2008 (LBO) – The dominance of Sri Lanka’s Western province which housed the capital Colombo, in the country’s economic activity has fallen below 50 percent in 2007, the island’s central bank said.Using gross domestic product (GDP) data compiled by the government’s statistics office, Sri Lanka’s central bank said the share of Western province […]
US refueling tanker contract to go up for new bid
WASHINGTON, July 9, 2008 (AFP) – The Pentagon Wednesday reopened a 35-billion-dollar contract to produce a new generation of air refueling aircraft, acknowledging flaws in an earlier air force decision to award it to Northrop Grumman.In an embarrassing about-face, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Northrop Grumman and rival Boeing would be asked to submit […]
Oil prices calm after US$10 slump
NEW YORK, July 9, 2008 (AFP) – Oil prices held steady Wednesday after two days of sharp declines, as news that Iran tested a long-range missile capable of hitting Israel pushed up prices temporarily. The market shook off news of another slump in US oil inventories and also digested a pledge by the Group of […]