Author: lbostgadmin
E-sex bust
Apr.23 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s immigration authorities have closed an internet-based commercial sex service run by foreign nationals, in the first such operation, officials said. The service run by persons of Ukrainian origin, and solicited clients via the website www.bananaescort.net, ended on April 12, after just two months of operations when sleuths from the Department […]
More blasts in Sri Lanka as Norway mounts new peace bid
Apr.21 (AFP) – Three policemen were killed and three injured in two mine attacks in Sri Lanka Friday, police said, as Norway launched a fresh bid to save the island’s tottering peace process. At least 65 people were killed in the bombings alone while the Tigers said more than a dozen were killed in attacks […]
Easing Up
SINGAPORE, April 21, 2006 (AFP) – Oil prices were lower in Asian trade Friday on profit-taking after recent sustained gains to record highs amid concerns over tight US gasoline (petrol) supplies and tensions over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, dealers said. At 11:15 am (0315 GMT), the June New York light sweet crude contract was at 72.96 […]
Wider Berth
DHAKA, April 21, 2006 (AFP) – South Asian nations have agreed to include services in the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) in a bid to boost regional economic integration, a report said Friday.The decision came at a meeting of South Asian trade ministers in Dhaka that ended Thursday on the free trade pact which […]
Chinese Flyovers
Apr.21 (LBO) – China Friday agreed to give a billion rupee grant to build three flyover roads in Sri Lanka, the Finance Ministry said. – LBO Newsdesk “The three infrastructure projects will help reduce the traffic congestion on the highly congested interchanges at Nugegoda and Welikada and also the road section from Kadawatha to Kiribathgoda,” […]
Bond auction yields decline
Apr.21 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank sold a billion rupees worth of three and four year bonds Friday at yields below market expectations. Details of the auction below: Treasury Bond Auctions 3-years 4-years Date of Maturity 15-03-2009 01-02-2010 Coupon Rate 7.50% 7.20 % Amount Offered (LKR) 1,000 1,000 Bids Received (LKR) 3,280 1,905 […]
Four more killed in Sri Lanka violence
Apr. 20 (AFP) – At least four people were killed in Sri Lanka on Thursday as a Norwegian peace envoy headed for talks with Tamil Tiger rebels on saving the island’s ceasefire, officials said.Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels shot dead a rival activist in the eastern town of Batticaloa on Thursday and fought a gun battle […]
Tigers put off truce talks amid fresh violence
Apr. 20 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels announced Thursday that they were indefinitely postponing peace talks aimed at saving a truce with Colombo as four more people were killed in fresh violence in Sri Lanka.– Amal Jayasinghe The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) told Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer that talks scheduled for April […]
High Octane
LONDON, April 20, 2006 (AFP) – World oil prices reached new historic peaks on Thursday, above 74.0 dollars in London and 72.0 dollars in New York, owing to mounting tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme and fears of gasoline shortages in the United States. In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for June delivery […]
Heavy Cross
MADRID, Apr. 20 (AFP) – Consumers should carry the burden of higher oil prices, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Rodrigo Rato said in an interview published Thursday by the Spanish daily El Pais. Rato said it would be necessary to “pass on new energy prices to consumers”, and added: “There is a very clear message, […]
RSF calls for retrial of Maldivian journalist jailed for life
Apr.20 (LBO) – The conviction on 19 April of Minivan journalist Abdullah Saeed and his sentence to life imprisonment was engineered by the authorities in order to harm the country’s only opposition newspaper, Reporters Without Borders said Thursday. The international advocacy group for media freedom, called for a new trial by an impartial court and […]
Micro Law
Apr.20 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is drawing up a new law to regulate micro-credit organizations scattered around the county. The legislation will cover thrift units operated by co-operative societies, thrift associations in the Samurdhi income support program of the government and other non- governmental organizations in the sector. “At present no one knows how many […]