Author: lbostgadmin
From Johnson to Munich, scandal and tragedy has marked Olympics
PARIS, June 13, 2008 (AFP) – Planning and staging an Olympics has never been an easy task and the chances are that Beijing 2008 will have its share of problems before it all ends for another four years.However it will have to go some way to surpass several previous Olympics. From the humiliating spectacle of […]
ECB poised for moderate rate rise: Belgian bank chief
BRUSSELS, June 12, 2008 (AFP) – ECB is preparing for a “moderate increase” in interest rates next month but not a series of hikes in the face of record inflation, governing board member and Belgian central banker Guy Quaden said. “What’s on the table for the month of July, is a moderate increase and not […]
Man dies after inhaling deadly garden fungus
Backyard gardener dies after inhaling fungal spores PARIS, June 12, 2008 (AFP) – An otherwise healthy 47-year-old man fell horribly ill and died within 10 days after inhaling fungal spores that had grown in a bag of gardening mulch, according to a study released Friday. The man, whose identity was not revealed, showed up at […]
Worst of financial crisis appears to be over: IMF chief
OSAKA, June 13, 2008 (AFP) – The worst of the financial crisis appears to be over but the major economies are likely to grow sluggishly for the rest of this year, International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Friday. “We have good reason to think that the financial crisis is mostly behind us but it’s […]
EU to end preferential tariffs for Vietnamese-made footwear: official
BRUSSELS, June 13, 2008 (AFP) – The European Union will soon end preferential customs tariffs for imports of footwear from Vietnam, an EU official said Friday.EU ambassadors have struck an agreement that would do away with the tariffs but the decision still has to be endorsed by ministers, the official said on condition of anonymity. […]
Sri Lanka insurance IPO gets foreign interest
June 13, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Janashakthi Insurance says there is strong foreign interest centered around the Middle Eastern region for their 400 million rupee initial public offering that is opening on Monday. In the year to December 2007, the group posted 525 million rupees in profits and reported revenues of 5.2 billion rupees. […]
Sri Lanka jets bomb Tiger weapons stock: military
June 12, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan war planes destroyed a suspected Tamil Tiger rebel arms manufacturing facility in the island’s north on Thursday as ground battles killed 15 people, the defence ministry said.The air force hit an “arms and ammunition manufacturing yard” of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the ministry said in […]
Sri Lanka Tigers say 27 kid fighters released; UNICEF says there are more
June 13, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers said Friday they had released 27 more child soldiers, and contested a United Nations estimate that over 1,000 under-age fighters were still in rebel ranks.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are fighting for an independent state and control much of the north of Sri […]
Sri Lanka tourist arrivals up 18.5-pct in May
June 13, 2008 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose a steep 18.5 percent in May against a sharp fall last year but cumulative figures were little changed amidst bad publicity from an internal conflict, the latest official data showed. The number of arrivals increased by 1.2 percent to 196,403 for the first five […]
‘s Dialog celco links with AeroMobile
June 13, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan celco Dialog, a unit of Telekom Malaysia said it had partnered with AeroMobile to provide in-flight mobile communications, becoming the first in the region to do so. “Dialog Telekom has achieved the distinction of being the first operator in the region to partner with AeroMobile..,” the company said […]
Better Rates
June 13, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank is offering a rate of 12.5 percent a year for savings deposits which maintain a balance of more than 50,000 rupees, the bank said. The savings deposit scheme branded ‘Hit Saver’ gives an annual effective rate of 13.24 percent, the bank said in a statement Friday. […]
Sri Lanka raises US$150mn dollars from international loan
June 13, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised 150 million US dollars from a loan put together by Standard Chartered Bank at 250 basis points above the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), the government’s debt office said. At a current 6-month LIBOR rate of 3.13 percent the loan costs 5.69 percent a year with […]