Author: lbostgadmin
Oil smashes 135 dollars in Asian trade
SINGAPORE, May 22, 2008 (AFP) – Oil smashed past 135 dollars a barrel for the first time Thursday, continuing its astonishing rise following unexpected drops in US crude and gasoline stocks in a tight market, dealers said.In Asian morning trade, New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, rose to a […]
Fed signals end of monetary policy road
WASHINGTON, May 21, 2008 (AFP) – The Federal Reserve sent out signals Wednesday the US economy will have to muddle through its crisis without further rate cuts, even as the central bank slashed its forecast for growth in 2008.Bethune said the “props” from the government’s 168-billion-dollar economic stimulus and tax rebate program will be “pulled […]
‘s quarterly profit falls
KUALA LUMPUR, May 22, 2008 (AFP) – Telekom Malaysia said Thursday its net profits in the first quarter fell 12.8 percent from a year ago to 519.7 million ringgit (162.4 million dollars) on higher operating and financing costs. Malaysia’s largest telecommunications firm said sales for the three months to March rose 10.6 percent to 4.6 […]
Sri Lanka trade deficit doubles in March
May 22, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s trade deficit doubled in March 2008 to 448 million dollars as imports ratcheted up 32 percent while exports grew only 7.8 percent, government data showed. Exports grew 7.8 percent in March with apparel growing 8.2 percent to 293 million dollars. Agricultural exports grew 29 percent with tea growing […]
Sri Lanka power demand hits new record
May 22, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s national grid operated by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) hit a new night peak demand of 1922MegaWatts on May 21, an official of the island’s state run power utility said. The night peak was reached on the first working day after Vesak, a Buddhist religious holiday which is […]
Sri Lanka Brandix to put creations on catwalk
May 22, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s apparel giant Brandix says its creations with an emphasis on eco-friendliness will be on display on the second day of a three day exposition in Colombo starting on May 30. On June 01, 60 items of lingerie, loungewear and casual wear designed by Brandix’ creative team will be […]
Soft Challenge
May 22, 2008 (LBO) – Search engine giant Google has accepted 24 student projects from Sri Lanka’s University of Moratuwa, for an open-source software development competition, the highest from any university in the world, officials said. The universities 24 acceptances for the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) programme, beat 10 projects from Wroclaw University of […]
Freed
May 22, 2008 (AFP) – An appeal court on Thursday overturned a two-year prison term for breaking immigration law and dropped all charges against former cricket chief Thilanga Sumathipala. Sumathipala, 43, was found guilty in April 2007 of forging travel documents to take alleged underworld leader Dhammika Amarasinghe to England to watch the 1999 cricket […]
Knowledge Essay
May 22, 2008 (LBO) – The deadline for an essay on the knowledge economy targeting Sri Lankan students in higher education has been extended till June 05, the World Bank said. The competition was launched in partnership with LIRNEasia, and the Point Pedro Institute of Development in March 2008. It coincided with the a recent […]
Sri Lanka banks on quality to hold tea prices up
May 22, 2008 (LBO) – Tea exporting countries last week agreed to stick to a minimum quality level to prevent oversupply from depressing prices, strengthening Sri Lankan efforts to prevent shipments of so-called ‘refuse tea’, a top official said. Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi said producing countries adopted the measures owing to growing concern the […]
Sri Lanka to import copra for oil mills
May 22, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to import copra, or dried coconut kernel, to feed the country’s oil mills which are facing high prices and raw material shortfalls, a senior minister said. The cabinet of ministers had approved the import of 45,000 tonnes of metric tonnes of copra to the country, information minister […]
Sri Lanka lose seat on UN Human Rights Council
UNITED NATIONS, May 21, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka, under fire for its human rights record, was Wednesday denied a seat on the UN Human Rights Council while France and Britain edged out Spain to win re-election in a closely-watched contest in the UN General Assembly. Nineteen countries were vying for 15 coveted seats on […]