Author: lbostgadmin
Paris Club at 50 faces era of new wealthy nations
PARIS, June 14, 2006 (AFP) – The Paris Club of the world’s richest lending nations marks its golden anniversary Wednesday, facing questions over its role in a new era of growing wealth in many debtor nations.Created in 1956 during a meeting in Paris of creditor nations for Argentina, the 19 Paris Club members, covering the […]
” to nursery rhymes
NEW DELHI, June 14, 2006 (AFP) – An Indian state has decided to drop popular nursery rhymes like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and “Baa Baa Black Sheep” from text books for first-graders for being too Western, reports said Wednesday.“We want our children to have value education in local color,” newspapers reported Narottam Mishra, minister of […]
Final Showing
June 14 (LBO) – The Treasury has drawn up a list of tax rates and concessions on imported Hollywood and Bollywood blockbusters, likely to be finalised this week. The controversial tax, announced in the government™s budget this year, could possibly be set at 75,000 rupees (750 dollars) for every half hour program, sitcom or serial. […]
Green Fingers
June 14, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s securities watchdog is probing the accounts of forestry management company Touchwood Investments Ltd, to figure out how the firm values its assets, a top official said Wednesday. Touchwood’s shares resumed trading mid-Wednesday after the firm responded with a three page letter to regulators, who asked for the assumptions […]
Winding Road
June 14 (LBO) – The Malaysian government is to conduct a feasibility study on the proposed Colombo-Kandy highway, with an agreement to be firmed up next week. A delegation from the Malaysian government is due in Colombo on June 22. This feasibility study follows one done by a Swedish firm in the year 2000. The […]
New Wings
June 14 (LBO) – National carrier SriLankan Airlines launched an International Aviation Academy on Wednesday, to meet demand by industry for airline relates skills. The academy will be a professional skills training facility, accredited by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), City and Guilds and Edexcel International. The IAA will cater to the increasing demand […]
Bomb hoax halts traffic in Colombo
June 13, 2006 (AFP) – Traffic was held up along a highway in Sri Lanka’s main city of Colombo Tuesday following a bomb hoax, police said. An anonymous caller had warned of a bomb at a state bank building in the city but a search turned up nothing, a police official here said. Last month, […]
Strike against higher fuel prices halts transport across India
NEW DELHI, June 13, 2006 (AFP) – Trucks, buses and some train services were halted Tuesday as part of a nationwide one-day strike against the government’s hike last week in fuel prices, reports said.In the capital New Delhi, hundreds of protesters waved placards and shouted slogans near the parliament while others burnt an effigy of […]
‘s scandal
TOKYO, June 13, 2006 (AFP) – International accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers set up a new firm in Japan on Tuesday after its Japanese partner came under fire over financial fraud.PricewaterhouseCoopers Arata will begin operations from July 1 to service both domestic and international companies in Japan, the US-based company said in a statement. The establishment came […]
Rat in the generator blacks out Cambodian capital
PHNOM PENH, June 13, 2006 (AFP) – A rat which bumbled into one of Cambodia’s largest power plants was blamed for blacking out the entire capital Phnom Penh and much of surrounding Kandal province over the weekend, a power official said Tuesday.Millions were cast into darkness Sunday night and sat through hours of sweltering heat […]
Healthy Spat
June 13 (LBO) – Sri Lankan employers are to work with trade unions to build dialogue in key areas like health, education and power, under a European Union funded project. The 12 month project will work with three government sector departments and four private sector agencies on tools for negotiation, social dialogue and governance, a […]
Small Umbrella
June 13, 2006 (LBO) – Hatton National Bank, Sri Lanka’s second largest privately owned lender by assets, has stepped up its micro credit programme by offering subsidized insurance policies to customers, officials said Tuesday. By passing on the credit risk to an insurance, HNB also gets a chance to reduce the statutory capital set aside […]