Author: lbostgadmin
India lays out five-year roadmap to freer rupee convertibility
NEW DELHI, Sept 2, 2006 (AFP) – India should make the rupee more freely convertible over the next five years to realise the country’s “maximum” economic potential, a central bank committee has urged. Such a move to loosen curbs on trading the rupee against other currencies would rank as one of India’s biggest economic reforms. […]
New controls on foreign aid workers in Sri Lanka after killings
COLOMBO, Sept 1, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has enforced new controls on foreign aid workers after 17 local employees of a French charity were murdered, allegedly by security forces, aid officials said Friday. Local and foreign non-government organisations were told to obtain work permits for expatriate staff by Friday, before the deadline was extended […]
Red Cross presses for supply line in war-torn Sri Lanka
GENEVA, Sept 1, 2006 (AFP) – The International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday pressed Sri Lanka’s warring parties to allow supplies to reach tens of thousands of increasingly desperate people in the isolated city of Jaffna. Reto Meister, head of the ICRC’s Asia-Pacific operations, said the northern city of around half a million […]
Sri Lanka blast kills soldier, wounds four
Sept 1, 2006 (AFP) – A powerful Claymore mine exploded Friday in Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna peninsula, killing one soldier and wounding four more, the defence ministry said.The victims were on foot patrol when they were hit, the ministry said. “Five soldiers suffered injuries and were admitted to hospital,” the ministry said. It added that […]
IMF board agrees to give bigger say to developing countries
TOKYO, Sept 1, 2006 (AFP) – The IMF executive board has agreed to far-reaching reform of the institution to give more influence to dynamic developing economies including China, managing director Rodrigo Rato said.Under the plan, China, South Korea, Turkey and Mexico will all see immediate increases in their fund quotas to reflect the shifting balance […]
Indian TV viewers to pay 11 cents a channel each month
NEW DELHI, Sept 1, 2006 (AFP) – Millions of Indian television viewers will pay a maximum five rupees (11 cents) a month for each pay channel under a new system to take effect by the end of the year, the telecommunications regulator said. The introduction of the conditional access system or CAS will mark a […]
Saving Pluto: The fightback begins
PARIS, Sept 1, 2006 (AFP) – Only a week after Pluto was stripped of its status as a full-fledged planet of the Solar System, rebel astronomers have launched a campaign to have it restored in pomp and glory.A petition already signed by more than 300 professional researchers is attacking the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decision […]
Cable Landing
September 01, 2006 (LBO) – Lanka Bell, one of Sri Lanka’s privately held wireless telecom operators, is in talks with India’s FLAG Telecom to lay an undersea cable linking both countries. The 25 million dollar deal is due to be inked shortly, with the cable also extended from Sri Lanka to the Maldives. “Once finalised […]
India to increase tea imports as production hit
GUWAHATI, India, Sept 1, 2006 (AFP) – India, the world’s largest tea producer, will boost tea imports to cover growing domestic demand despite an expected production shortfall blamed on a heat wave, officials said Friday. This year, the country is likely to increase tea imports to 25 million kilograms (55 million pounds) from last year’s […]
James Finlays sees export revenues fall on low value added tea sales
September 01, 2006 (LBO) – James Finalys & Company says its export revenues fell for the six months to June as the firm shipped more low value added bulk tea to overseas buyers. Finlays, one of Sri Lanka’s top tea exporters, also felt the pinch of rising prices at weekly tea auctions, as its island’s key […]
‘s inflation hits 15.3% in July
August 31, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s consumer prices jumped to 15.3 percent in July, the Census & Statistics Department said Thursday, as prices of bread, fuel, cinema tickets rose to offset lower costs of vegetables. As a result the Colombo Consumer Price Index or CCPI ended at 4,650.0 in July. Prices of bread, wheat […]
Blair meets Sri Lanka leader amid Tamil turmoil
LONDON, Aug 31, 2006 (AFP) – British Prime Minister Tony Blair met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Thursday for private talks on the political situation in Sri Lanka, a spokeswoman for Blair said.Rajapakse has said he was ready for unconditional talks with the Tigers and described the current military action against the rebels as […]