Author: lbostgadmin
Hong Kong prices up as dollar peg imports US inflation
HONG KONG, Feb 11, 2008 (AFP) – On the day before the Lunar New Year festival, almost every pork butcher in Hong Kong’s Wanchai market is frantically busy with queues of housewives and maids 10 deep. Family feasts to mark the new lunar cycle — this year the advent of the year of the rat […]
Sri Lanka exporters urged to focus on food safety, product liability issues
Feb 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan exporters should secure their shipments not only because of security but because product liability and food safety are growing concerns in western markets, a container security expert says. New global container security initiatives, which emerged as a response to terrorist threats, are now not only limited to security, […]
Third Vision
Feb 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s top mobile operator Dialog Telekom says its third generation network will be used to provide live newsfeeds for Sri Lanka’s Derana television service. “Reporting instantly from the location through 3G video calling reduces the time lag that is usually associated with unavoidable delays in transferring recorded material for […]
Scheme Collapse
KABUL, Feb 10, 2008 (AFP) – Around 3,000 mostly young Afghan men marched through Kabul Sunday to demand the government lift a temporary ban on an international money-making scheme. The protesters marched to the gates of the palace of President Hamid Karzai, where they read out a resolution demanding the government lift a temporary order […]
Sri Lanka hotels gain on merger news
Feb 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Associated Hotels Company Limited (AHCL) will merge with Ceylon Hotels Corporation (CHC) and another company, Perigrine Private Limited, the company said Monday. The date of merger was not announced, but may be determined by the registrar of companies. Associated Hotels share was up 10.25 on the news to […]
Sri Lanka to see Cathay flights from March
Feb 11, 2008 (LBO) – Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways will resume daily flights to Sri Lanka from March, after security was tightened at the island’s international airport, the airline said Monday. CX711 departs Hong Kong at 16.15 and arrives in Sri Lanka at 22.45, while the return CX710 service departs Colombo at 00.15 on […]
Sri Lanka army chief vows to defeat Tiger rebels
Feb 10, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s army chief again vowed to defeat Tamil separatists but refused to set a deadline for the end of the decades-old conflict, saying the rebels remain a potent force, a report said Sunday. Army general Sarath Fonseka said in an interview with the Lakbima weekly newspaper that a military […]
World bourses lost 5.2 trillion dollars in January: S&P
PARIS, Feb 9, 2008 (AFP) – World stockmarkets lost 5.2 trillion dollars (3.6 trillion euros) in January thanks to the fallout from the US subprime crisis and fears of a global economic slowdown, Standard & Poor’s said Saturday. But only Argentina and Taiwan slipped into negative territory for the 12-month period. “If investors thought the […]
‘s rogue trader saga
PARIS, Feb 10, 2008 (AFP) – A new court battle will be held Monday over the detention of French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel while Societe Generale is to soon launch an eight billion dollar capital increase to cover the losses they blame on him.The decision by a Paris appeals court on Friday to back a […]
Port Bid
Feb 10, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) is pushing to award a container terminal concession in Colombo to Hutchison Port Holdings despite a technical committee nod for rival Port of Singapore Authority, a news report said Sunday. “The SLPA is determined to award the Colombo South Port Development Project to Hutchison […]
Sri Lanka under pressure to de-politicize price index
Feb 09, 2008 (LBO) – Pressure is mounting to de-politicize Sri Lanka’s new price index, which the authorities are already using as a guide for monetary policy and are pushing trade unions to accept for indexing wages. The new Colombo Consumer Price Index or CCPI (N) has come under fire for excluding alcohol in an […]
Sri Lanka combatants claim high casualties
Feb 9, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan government troops and Tamil Tiger guerrillas claimed on Saturday to have inflicted heavy casualties against each other in fierce fighting in the country’s north. The defence ministry said 25 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in heavy fighting on Friday, while the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) […]