Author: lbostgadmin
Sri Lanka urges diplomatic end to NKorean crisis
Oct 10, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka, which is backing South Korea’s bid to secure the UN Secretary General’s post, Tuesday said it hoped that the “issue” of North Korea’s nuclear tests would be resolved diplomatically.“We express the hope that the issue will be resolved through diplomatic means,” the Sri Lankan foreign ministry said in […]
” vineyards stealing a march on Europeans in fast-growing market
PARIS, Oct 10, 2006 (AFP) – Vineyards in the new world and even in China are stealing a march on traditionally dominant European producers in the race to slake the world’s fast-growing thirst for wine.From having a market share of just 1.6 percent 20 years ago, wines from countries like Chile, Australia and the United […]
Malaysia to issue four WiMAX licences: minister
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10, 2006 (AFP) – Malaysia will issue up to four licences to telecommunication operators to provide “fourth generation” wireless high speed Internet services, a senior minister said Tuesday.The government in July cancelled the original tender for the WiMAX 2.3 gigahertz spectrum, saying that the specifications were not in line with the ministry’s […]
Shangri La
Oct 10 2006 (LBO) – A lack of land could stand in the way of Sri Lanka clinching top Business Process Outsourcing contracts, the country’s ICT Agency says. The island is competing with neighboring India and other regional countries for a slice of the global 11.5 billion dollar BPO business, selling on its strengths of […]
Time Capsule
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 9, 2006 (AFP) – Yahoo set out on Monday to capture life on Earth in digital formats for a “time capsule” to be buried in Silicon Valley as well as beamed from Mexico into the cosmos.The Internet giant invited people worldwide to contribute pictures, videos, songs, ideas, drawings or anything else they […]
Small Fee
October 10, 2006 (LBO) – Dialog Telekom, the island’s biggest cellular phone operator, has jumped into the lucrative business process outsourcing industry by extending its customer support channels to local and overseas clients. A unit of Telekom Malaysia, Dialog says their dedicated BPO unit employs over 500 skilled professionals offering customer support services in three […]
Extended Credit
Oct 10, 2006 (LBO) – The Asian Development Bank is fielding a mission to Sri Lanka this week to look at supplementary financing for the 300 million dollar Southern expressway. We expect the highway to be completed by 2010 or end 2009 at the earliest. We want to open the highway to the public once […]
Sri Lanka vows to hit back amid artillery duels with Tigers
Oct 9, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government vowed Monday to keep up an offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels until they stopped “provocative actions” as both sides traded artillery fire. After two weeks, the military regained territory lost to the rebels following intense fighting that claimed hundreds of lives of both sides. President Mahinda Rajapakse […]
Indian PM pledges to push for financial reform
LONDON, Oct 9, 2006 (AFP) – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged to push for reform of the banking and insurance sectors, and to raise investment in infrastructure, in an interview published in the Financial Times on Monday.“These are our two biggest priorities,” Singh told the newspaper. His remarks to the newspaper largely echo those […]
Workers appeal for tighter rules in shipbreaking industry
LONDON, Oct 9, 2006 (AFP) – Indian shipbreaking workers on Monday called on industry chiefs meeting in London Monday for tighter regulations to cut the number of serious injuries and deaths in the sector, particularly in Asia.“We need the help of the world, we need the help of the people to help the workers,” Vidyadhar […]
US economist Edmund S. Phelps wins Nobel Economics Prize
STOCKHOLM, Oct 9, 2006 (AFP) – US economist Edmund S.Phelps won the 2006 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for work on trade-offs in macroeconomic policy, the Nobel jury said, noting that his work had improved understanding of how policy affected welfare for present and future generations. List of Nobel Economics Prize laureates 2006: Edmund S. […]
Scientists pore over data from NKorea blast
PARIS, Oct 9, 2006 (AFP) – Scientists took a dour wait-and-see attitude after North Korea claimed to have successfully conducted a nuclear test on Monday.Only careful analysis of data returned by seismic or atmospheric sensors will say whether the blast was a success or a damp squib, they said. Nor could they rule out the […]