Category:
US House passes subsidy-heavy farm bill
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2008 (AFP) – The US House of Representatives Wednesday passed a mammoth 290 billion dollar farm bill with a veto-proof majority, which includes subsidies for farmers and help with food bills for the needy.The 100-seat Senate was likely to pick up the bill as early as Wednesday night, where sponsors also hoped […]
German inflation cut to 2.4 percent in April
FRANKFURT, May 15, 2008 (AFP) – Inflation in Germany fell to 2.4 percent in April from 3.1 percent in March, but remains above the European Central Bank’s target of just below two percent, data confirmed Thursday. Final figures for the annual inflation rate released by the statistics office confirmed a preliminary estimate based on a […]
Japan should be allowed to re-sell US rice: NGO
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2008 (AFP) – The United States should allow Japan to sell its 1.5 million tons of imported US rice or give it to the World Food Program to help cool runaway rice prices, a nongovernmental organization said Wednesday. “An agreement by Washington and Tokyo for Japan to release its 1.5 million tons […]
Terror threat from South Asia still top US concern
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2008 (AFP) – The United States has poured nearly 40 billion dollars in aid to South Asia since the September 11 attacks but the terror threat from the region remains a top problem, a congressional hearing was told Wednesday. “South Asia is arguably the place from which America faces the greatest terrorist […]
Sri Lanka treasury yields fall across tenors
May 14, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Treasury bill yields tumbled across tenors with the benchmark 3-month yield falling 54 basis points to 17.55 percent, the government’s debt office said. The debt office which is a unit of the country’s central bank said the government sold 6.0 billion rupees worth of bills out of a […]
Repeat Business
May 14, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Colombo Dockyard, a unit of Japan’s Onomichi and the country’s sole listed shipbuilder, has won two new orders from Greatship (India), for bigger and more expensive vessels, an official said. Greatship is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Great Eastern Shipping Company. The firm had previously ordered four […]
Margin Play
May 14, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon has seen margins squeezed in 2007 amidst directed lending and rising funding costs, but has pushed up fee income and cut bad loans in the period. In 2007 group revenue rose 40 percent to 52.3 billion rupees while interest income rose 56 percent to […]
Costly Ruling
May 14, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s five-star city hotel Galadari Hotels said Wednesday it had been ordered to pay 101 million rupees in an arbitration hearing but that it would appeal against the ruling.The hotel said in a Colombo stock exchange filing that an arbitrator at the Sri Lanka National Arbitration Centre had delivered […]
Software Piracy
SINGAPORE, May 14, 2008 (AFP) – Software piracy increased last year in the Asia-Pacific region, boosted by China’s growing use of personal computers, an industry group said on Wednesday.The Asia-Pacific’s average PC software piracy rate in 2007 increased to 59 percent of the software in use in the region from 55 percent the previous year, […]
Wider Portfolio
May 14, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka unit of India’s Tata Communications is looking to expand in to new areas after getting 30 percent of the outgoing voice traffic of the country, officials said. . “We are looking for new licenses to expand into areas demanded by our customers,” Tata Communications group chief N […]
Sri Lanka presses ahead with air and ground attacks against Tamil Tigers: military
May 14, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka pressed ahead with air and ground attacks Wednesday against Tamil Tiger rebels in the north, the defence ministry said, as the prime minster ruled out any ceasefire. Fighter planes gave air support to ground troops advancing toward rebel-held areas in Mannar district and bombed a suspected guerrilla training […]
Sri Lanka ministerial aide assassinated amid violence
May 14, 2008 (AFP) – At least 27 Tamil Tiger rebels died during battles with government troops, while separately a top advisor to a senior cabinet minister was shot dead in Sri Lanka’s restive north, the defence ministry said Tuesday.The sporadic clashes took place around the embattled Vavuniya and Mannar district on Monday, the ministry […]