Sri Lankan Airlines push weekly Indian flights to 99

Oct 03, 2007 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines announced Wednesday it will launch services to Coimbatore on October 29, pushing weekly flights to India to 99. The airline is now flying 95 frequencies a week to 11 destinations in India. “SriLankan Airlines has positioned Colombo as the gateway to India, and we are continuously increasing our […]

No Atappattu for Sri Lanka tour of Australia: chief selector

Oct 03, 2007 (Vimasuma.com) Former Sri Lanka captain and opener Marvan Attapattu would not be included in a forthcoming tour of Australia, chief selector Ashantha de Mel said. “We were informed at about 5.00 pm by fax that Marvan would not attend a meeting with cricket officials,” de Mel told Vimasuma.com “It is not possible […]

Maldives raises fuel prices

October 03, 2007 (LBO) — Maldives on Wednesday raised fuel prices to keep pace with galloping world crude prices, the State Trading Organisation said.Prices of diesel go up 0.35 cents to Maldive Rufiyaa 8.65 (0.68 US cents), while kerosene costs 0.25 cents more or Maldive Rufiyaa 9.30 (0.74 US cents), the statement said. In comparison […]

Deutsche Bank reports 2.2-bn euro hit from subprime crisis

FRANKFURT, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) – Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest lender, said Wednesday it would take charges of roughly 2.2 billion euros (3.1 billion dollars) to cover losses connected with the US home-loan crisis.Many major banks have decided to make clear their losses from the global banking crisis as quickly as possible to try to […]

Dollar-pegged oil exporters mull break as inflation goes out of control

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) – The US interest rates cut has revived a fierce debate on whether the oil-rich Gulf Arab states should keep their currencies pegged to the dollar and bear the crunch of high inflation. The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are experiencing high growth rates of between four to […]

Sri Lanka wants Atapattu back for Australia

Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s former captain and opening batsman Marvan Atapattu is set to make a comeback after being overlooked for the World Cup, chief selector Asantha de Mel told AFP here Wednesday.“We want Sanath only in the one-day team,” he said. “We need his experience in Australia. He has the technique […]

Sri Lanka says no quick-fix to Tamil conflict

WASHINGTON, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka cannot be pressured by the international community to bring about a political solution to its long-running separatist conflict, its foreign secretary T.B. Kohona said. He said the government was searching for a political solution broadly acceptable to all the stakeholders while continuing to encourage Tamil separatists to […]

Female Flyers

Oct 03, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may boast of having had the world’s first woman prime minister and her daughter as the island’s first female president, but few women have made a career in aviation. The country’s first female military pilot flew Spitfires in World War 2 but an attempt by a young woman […]

Sri Lanka flirts with flour price controls as inflation rages

Oct 03, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka consumer affairs ministry said it was amending laws to bring a Singapore-owned flour mill under its control as rising global wheat prices drove bread prices in the island to record levels. Consumer Affairs Minister Bandula Gunewardene said the law governing the country’s consumer protection authority has a specific […]

Sri Lanka Tea Board to monitor export quality closely

Oct 02, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Tea Board plans to set up a tea testing laboratory to make sure that chemical residues and impurities do not get into exports, Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi said. . The lab will in future handle all the testing done by the Board some of which is […]

Stiff Penalties

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) – An Islamist lawmaker in Kuwait called for the interior ministry on Tuesday to draw up a blacklist of employers who mistreat their domestic helpers and urged stiff penalties for physical abuse.MP Waleed al-Tabtabai said in a statement that employers who abuse their maids “physically or morally” should be […]

Easy Connections

Oct 02, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) has signed up PC House, an IT firm, to package broadband connections with its computers, the telecommunications provider said. “Through this initiative SLT will be able to offer Broadband products to its customers via 41 PC House branches including North and East in addition to SLT […]

Page 2553 of 3384