Author: lbostgadmin
China to stop arresting women for carrying condoms: state press
BEIJING, Nov 30, 2007 (AFP) – Chinese police are to stop arresting women who carry condoms, traditionally seen as evidence of prostitution, in an effort to help curb the spread of AIDS, state press said Friday.Despite efforts to stop the practice, women in China are still being sent to labour camps for prostitution offences merely […]
SriLankan Airlines gets global air safety certification
Nov 30, 2007 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines has said it had received an international air transport safety audit certification a year ahead of a global deadline. . Corrected The airline has been added to the Registry of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit, which measures safety and quality standards among airlines throughout […]
Sri Lanka in new push on agriculture
Nov 30, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is getting 360 million dollars in concessionary aid from Iran to build a multipurpose irrigation project that will generate 100 MegaWatts of electricity and divert water to irrigate the south of the country, officials said. The Uma Oya project with cost a total of 450 million dollars, Treasury […]
Sri Lanka plans longer term sovereign bond
Nov 30, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka want to issue longer term sovereign bonds going beyond the 5-year tenor issued in October, as part of a strategy to reduce pressure on domestic debt markets in 2008, a top official said.The government was looking at 7-10 year bonds to extend the tenor of its foreign debt […]
Sri Lanka inflation rockets 4.4-pct in November
Nov 30, 2007 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Colombo’s capital jumped 4.4 percent in November keeping 12-month inflation at a record 19.6 percent for the second month running, the government’s statistics office said.The Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) gained 253.2 points to move to 5976.2 index points. The moving average of the index, averaged over […]
Sri Lanka to sell more rupee bonds to foreigners
Nov 30, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has lifted a ceiling on foreign holdings of government rupee bonds, allowing foreign investors to buy into more than 500 million dollars worth new medium term securities. The government has doubled an earlier limit of 5 percent of outstanding government bonds to 10 percent, from November 30. Sri […]
Sri Lanka needs spectacular fiscal gains to reach revised budget: economist
Nov 29, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state revenues have to grow twice as fast in the last quarter and expenses growth has to plunge to single digits for revised budget targets for 2007 to be reached, a private sector economist said. . According to disclosures under Sri Lanka’s fiscal responsibility law revenue up to […]
Sri Lanka should print less money and budget better: IMF
Nov 29, 2007 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked Sri Lanka to print less money and have better budgets to prevent balance of payments problems and high inflation, after its annual discussions with the island. IMF’s executive board assessing Sri Lanka in the annual Article IV consultations with the island said recent […]
”: report
TOKYO, Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has vowed to “wipe out terrorists” amid fears of a return to all-out war with the Tamil Tiger rebels, a newspaper said Thursday.“We put pressure on the group to give up its arms and enter the political mainstream. Terrorists must be wiped out from […]
UN chief slams Sri Lanka attacks
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 28, 2007 (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday condemned the latest suicide bombing in Sri Lanka and called for an end to the violence, his press office said in a statement.Officials blamed both attacks on Tamil Tiger rebels, who have been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland for 35 years, […]
Security clampdown in Sri Lanka capital after deadly blasts: police
Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan forces threw a security blanket over the capital Colombo on Thursday and appealed for extra public vigilance a day after twin bomb attacks left 19 people dead and 45 injured, police said.“There is a general security alert across Colombo,” police spokesman Jayantha Wickremaratna said. Officials have blamed the […]
Sri Lanka terror blasts condemned by EU
Nov 29, 2007 (LBO) – The European Union Thursday said it condemns the terrorist attacks in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo in which at least 18 people were killed. . But an EU statement released by the British High Commission did not name the perpetrators of the attacks whom the island government has identified as […]