Category: Industry
Early Warning
January 2, 2007 (LBO) – Gasoline prices are likely to go up by 5-percent in Sri Lanka, the state-run fuel retailer warned Tuesday, as global oil prices hit 60 dollars a barrel. Petrol at the pump now costs 92.00 rupees a litre, and Ceylon Petroleum Corp. Chairman Asantha de Mel said they are looking at […]
Wide Berth
January 2, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has lifted the minimum capital requirements of money changers by fivefold to 600,000 dollars with immediate effect, the bank’s governor said Tuesday. In July 2005, the bank raised the minimum capital limit by 900 percent to 120,000 dollars and allowed around 60 registered money changers to […]
Long Arm
January 01, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Janashakthi Group is set to take control of privately held financial service group First Capital, officials said Monday. “We have an agreement First Capital’s major shareholder Singer, to take control of First Capital. The actual price and percentage of shares will be announced in due course,” Janashakthi Group […]
New Zealand wants better bowling against Sri Lanka
QUEENSTOWN, Dec 30 (AFP) – New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori wants a vastly improved performance from his inexperienced bowling attack in Sunday’s one-dayer against Sri Lanka.The tourists cantered to an easy seven wicket victory in the opening match in Napier on Thursday, overhauling New Zealand’s 285-8 with 10 overs to spare. Veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya […]
Fresh Slate
December 30 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka government has agreed to offload half the 60 billion-rupee long-term debt of the Ceylon Electricity Board from January and re-schedule the balance to be paid after five years. The CEB sells about seven billion units of electricity each year, with households using up 2550 million units with an […]
Pipeline Plans
December 29 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has signed a deal Friday with India’s National Thermal Power Corporation to build a 500 million dollar coal power project in the east of the island. The 500-megawatt capacity project to be built in Trincomalee will be jointly held by the state utility, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the […]
Warne commits to rebuild tsunami-hit cricket ground
SYDNEY, Dec 28, 2006 (AFP) – Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker Shane Warne has committed his charitable foundation to donate 20,000 dollars (15,600 USD) to tsunami reconstruction efforts in Sri Lanka, reports said Thursday. The move, announced at a breakfast event in Melbourne on Boxing Day, followed reports last week that the foundation had failed to […]
Fragile Links
SINGAPORE, Dec 28, 2006 (AFP) – The chaos in Asia’s Internet service sparked by an undersea earthquake shows the region’s cable network is too fragile and overly reliant on connections to the United States, industry observers said Thursday. Millions of people across Asia were enduring a second day without full Internet services after a 7.1-magnitude […]
Cable Cut
HONG KONG, Dec 27, 2006 (AFP) – Internet and phone services were disrupted across much of Asia on Wednesday after an earthquake damaged undersea cables, leaving one of the world’s most tech-savvy regions in a virtual blackout.“If there is too much traffic on that route, it might get blocked up and further slow down Internet […]
Tsunami-hit Sri Lanka stadium to be rebuilt despite Warne failure
GALLE, Sri Lanka, Dec 26, 2006 (AFP) – Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne might have failed to deliver promised aid to rebuild the Galle stadium but officials Tuesday vowed to restore the picturesque venue. The Shane Warne Foundation (SWF) told the Galle International Cricket Club in June that a fund-raising event had been a flop and […]
Piracy Charge
COLOMBO, Dec 26 (AFP) – The crew of a Jordanian cargo ship accused Tamil Tiger rebels Tuesday of piracy, saying the guerrillas had attacked their vessel after it developed engine trouble near a militant-held area.The rebels — in six boats — surrounded the Farah III and fired into the air as they boarded the vessel […]
Cheap Run
December 22, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to float a state-run no frills airline, the government said Friday, to fly to the Middle East and neighbouring Asian countries. The budget carrier, Mihin Air, is expected to cost around 1.5 billion rupees with the government initial setting aside 500 million rupees as working capital, director […]