Category:
Fishing Support
August 12, 2008 (LBO) – The United States has finished re-building the third fishery harbour in southern Sri Lanka which was hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami, the US embassy in Colombo said.USAID has also helped renovate the Hikkaduwa and Mirissa fishery harbours as part of a 5 million US dollar project, helping a total […]
Twin Growth
Aug 12, 2008 (LBO) – It’s easy to miss the business strategy behind a glitzy re-launch of Sri Lanka Telecom’s wire-line services, as the island’s only copper wire networked telco kicked off a new campaign, cutting connection charges. Broadband, or fast internet access, is a high growth area for SLT together with mobile services. Mobitel, […]
Humpbacks doing better but porpoises face extinction
GENEVA, August 12, 2008 (AFP) – Two whale species, the humpback and the southern right, are less under threat from becoming extinct, a new study released on Tuesday showed.However, smaller cetaceans, including a species of porpoise, were facing a greater risk of extinction, said the study, which was carried out by the International Union for […]
Sri Lanka warned by India it might not win war with rebels: report
SINGAPORE, August 12, 2008 (AFP) – India has warned neighbouring Sri Lanka that it may not be able to win an ongoing war against separatist Tamil Tiger rebels despite recent military gains, a report said Tuesday. Indian National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan told the Straits Times newspaper that Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam […]
Sri Lanka Brown & Co eyes energy saving market
Aug 12, 2008 (LBO) – Household goods retailer Brown & Company plans to import and promote energy efficient electrical items from India to meet growing demand in Sri Lanka where electricity costs are among the highest in the region. Brown & Company has signed an agreement with Indian electrical appliance manufacturer Havells to import energy […]
Australia PM pushes Asia Pacific Community idea
SINGAPORE, August 12, 2008 (AFP) – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Tuesday pushed ahead with his vision of an Asia Pacific Community but played down comparisons with the European Union following criticism from his predecessors.Speaking to diplomats, academics, business executives and students at a public lecture in Singapore, Rudd said his proposal, first floated in […]
Standard Chartered bank shakes off credit crunch as profits soar
Aug 12, 2008 (LBO) – Standard Chartered said that its push into Asia, Africa and the Middle East had fuelled a profits surge at the emerging markets bank despite a jump in bad debts caused by the credit crunch, AFP news agency reported.Standard Chartered, Britain’s fourth-biggest retail bank by market value, said in an earnings […]
‘s wholesale inflation hits 7.1-pct in July 2008
TOKYO, August 12, 2008 (AFP) – Japanese wholesale inflation hit a 27-year high of 7.1 percent in July on soaring commodity costs, the central bank said Tuesday, adding to gloom about the health of Asia’s largest economy. The fresh signs of pain in the manufacturing sector came on the eve of figures expected to show […]
Dollar gains against Euro, commodities
TOKYO, August 12, 2008 (AFP) – The euro languished at six-month lows against the dollar in Asian trade on Tuesday as traders continued to focus on the deteriorating health of the eurozone economies, dealers said. Falling oil prices also helped prop up the greenback, they said. The euro was at 1.4898 dollars in Tokyo morning […]
Oil prices sink despite Georgian conflict
NEW YORK, August 11, 2008 (AFP) – Crude oil prices sank Monday as the market worried about weakening demand, particularly in the eurozone and in China, after Chinese oil imports fell sharply.New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, fell 75 cents to close at 114.45 dollars a barrel. The contract hit an […]
India fail to crack Mendis mystery
August 12, 2008 (AFP) – India, reflecting on their Test series loss to Sri Lanka, have reason to believe they were beaten not so much by their hosts as by unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis, who remained an unfathomable mystery.The 23-year-old army officer badly bruised India’s batting pride during his team’s 2-1 victory in the series […]
Gas Dates
Aug 12, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s (CPC) entry into liquid petroleum gas (LPG) retailing has been pushed to December due to procurement delays, an official said. CPC runs a 50,000 barrels a day refinery, and is the island’s largest petroleum distributor with more than two thirds of the petrol and […]