Author: lbostgadmin
Telco Moves
March 17, 2008 (LBO) – India’s Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is looking for a joint venture partner to take up a 50 percent stake in Sri Lanka’s Suntel which it is negotiating to buy, India’s telecom regulator has said. The Department of Telecom (DOT) said in its annual report that MTNL wanted a joint […]
Banking Interest
Mar 18, 2008 (LBO) – Former Malaysian finance minister and entrepreneur Daim Zainuddin is hunting in Sri Lanka’s banking and energy sectors for opportunities, the business magnate said on a flying visit to Colombo. Daim said he is looking at either opening a bank or buying into an existing one, after coming to Sri Lanka […]
Sri Lanka stocks close lower despite Telecom rush
March 17, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka shares closed lower, despite strong interest in Sri Lanka Telecom which saw turnover boosted to 1.2 billion rupees and 18 million shares traded, dealers said.The benchmark All Share Index closed 0.76 percent lower (19.47 points) at 2,546.56 points while the Milanka Index of liquid stocks slid 0.74 percent […]
Roadside bomb kills Sri Lankan soldier, fighting rages
March 16, 2008 (AFP) – At least one soldier was killed and four others wounded in a road side bomb attack in northern Sri Lanka Sunday, defence officials said. Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off the blast as troops drove in an autorickshaw in Vavuniya district, an area of ongoing heavy fighting between the government […]
Sri Lanka former minister Anura Bandaranaike dies
Mar 16, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s former minister Anura Bandaranaike, a member of a powerful political family that has produced two prime ministers and a president, died Sunday at a private hospital, a senior ruling party official said. Anura Bandaranaike is the son of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) founder and former prime minister […]
‘s Caribbean tour opens against inexperienced side
PROVIDENCE, Guyana, March 16, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka open their tour of the Caribbean on Monday against an inexperienced West Indies Select XI at the Guyana National Stadium. The three-day tour match will be the visitors’ only chance for match practice ahead of the first Test of two against West Indies, starting next Saturday […]
Eurozone becomes biggest economy as money printing shrinks real US economic size
FRANKFURT, March 16, 2008 (AFP) – The dollar’s plunge has made the eurozone the world’s biggest economy by one measure and has underscored shifts that are reorienting the 15-nation bloc towards Asia, Russia and oil-rich Gulf states, analysts say. “With the euro now trading around 1.56 against the dollar, the size of its annual output […]
Sub-prime crisis hit municipal bonds, student loans
WASHINGTON, March 16, 2008 (AFP) – The financial hurricane tearing through Wall Street has sparked vast losses at major banks, but it has also exposed a formerly secretive corner of America’s financial markets. Millions of Americans track the Dow Jones Industrial Average and their stock portfolios on a daily basis, but the trillion-dollar trade in […]
” killed in Tibet unrest: govt-in-exile
DHARAMSHALA, India, March 16, 2008 (AFP) – Eighty people have been “confirmed” killed in unrest in Tibet, the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile said Sunday.“Regarding bodies, it’s 80. We have 80 unidentified bodies,” said Thubten Samphel, the spokesman for the Tibetan administration in Dharamshala. He said the toll had been established from “calls made from Tibet” by […]
Suicide vest now weapon of choice for Qaeda in Iraq: US
BAGHDAD, March 16, 2008 (AFP) – The explosive vest has become the weapon of choice for Al-Qaeda in Iraq, with most jihadists nowadays wearing the lethal garment and the number of suicide attacks on the rise, the US military said Sunday. “There has been an increase over time in the use of suicide vest bombers,” […]
India Sri Lanka power cable can be built in 40 months: report
March 16, 2008 (LBO) – An India state-run firm that is preparing a feasibility study on an undersea power cable to Sri Lanka has said the project could be completed in 40 months if given the go ahead, a media report said. India’s The Hindu Business Line newspaper said a detailed report is being prepared […]
Sri Lanka could gain more in next phase of trade liberalization: study
March 15, 2008 (LBO) – A new study on a south Asian regional trade deal has said Sri Lanka will gain more in the next phase of liberalisation but the island’s private sector representatives have expressed scepticism about the outcome. The study on the benefits of the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) found that […]