Author: lbostgadmin
Thailand, US deploy first tsunami warning buoy in Indian Ocean
PHUKET, Thailand, Dec 1, 2006 (AFP) – Thai and US officials Friday sent off a ship carrying a tsunami warning device designed to protect millions of people around the Indian Ocean from a repeat of the catastrophe two years ago. Some 220,000 people in a dozen countries were killed by a tsunami that hit off […]
Next Show
November 30, 2006 (LBO) – Tough regulations are stifling growth of Sri Lanka’s cable and satellite television industry, a local research firm says, but is poised to take off as new and larger players’ lower costs and improve choice. Sri Lanka’s current penetration of satellite and cable channels is less than one percent of the […]
Trade Battle
WASHINGTON, Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – The United States and Asian economies are divided over how to implement a plan to set up an Asia-Pacific free trade area, two weeks after agreeing to study the ambitious proposal. The Asian economies want to first establish a free trade area among themselves before considering the implementation of […]
Aid for AIDS
Dec 1, 2006 (LBO) – The United States said Friday that it would give Sri Lanka 650,000 dollars to help curb the AIDS virus in high risk areas of the island, officials from the US Agency for International Development, said. Department of Health Services, 2006 report says the number of reported cumulative AIDS deaths in […]
Costly Business
Dec 01 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s export and import trade are to be slapped with higher terminal handling charges from January, shipping lines calling on the Colombo port said in a public notice on Friday. The India Pakistan Bangladesh Ceylon Conference (IPBCC) a grouping of about 19 shipping lines, said that they were revising rates […]
‘s inflation hits 19.8% as Central Bank credit climbs to Rs 100 bn
November 30, 2006 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka shot up to 19.8 percent in November from 17.2 percent in October, the Census & Statistics Department said Thursday, as Central Bank credit to government climbed to 100 billion rupees, and real interest rates were pushed further into negative territory. Economists had been predicting that […]
Five killed in Sri Lanka as train hits truck
Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – Two soldiers and three policemen were killed Thursday when their pick-up truck was hit by a commuter train at an unprotected level crossing near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, police said.Sri Lanka has stepped up security across the country after Tamil Tiger rebels announced Monday that they had no option […]
Sri Lanka bloodshed to worsen, warns Crisis Group
Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s peace initiative was flawed from the start and the island now faces an immediate prospect of more violence, the International Crisis Group (ICG) warns.The conflict resolution experts note however in a new study received here Thursday that neither government forces nor the Tamil rebels appear able to defeat […]
‘s peace envoy to meet warring parties in Sri Lanka
Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – A top Norwegian peace broker arrived in Sri Lanka Thursday, a diplomat said, as Tamil Tiger separatists insisted government forces have killed off an Oslo-brokered ceasefire. Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict has claimed at least 60,000 lives since it began in 1972. Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer was to hold separate talks with […]
‘s environment, lifestyle
PANAJI, India, Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – The once low-budget tourist haven of Goa is facing a crisis, environmentalists say, as developers force up land prices and a tourism boom threatens the delicate coastal ecology.“As a result our forest cover, which was 34 percent in 2001 and projected to increase to 40 percent, has now […]
Indian economy grows faster than expected, sparks interest rate concerns
NEW DELHI, Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – India’s economy grew a faster-than-expected 9.2 percent in the second quarter to September, official data showed Thursday, prompting concerns that overheating will require higher interest rates.The Indian rupee weakened Wednesday against the dollar to 44.74 from 44.65 after the data was announced, and strengthened against the euro to […]
Zimbabwe finance minister predicts growth, inflation fall
HARARE, Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s finance minister predicted Thursday marginal economic growth in the coming year and that the country’s four-figure inflation rate would dip to 350 percent as he presented the budget for 2007. “The economy is expected to grow marginally by between 0.5 percent and one percent in 2007,” Herbert Murerwa […]