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Ike damaged about 10 oil platforms: US officials
WASHINGTON, September 14, 2008 (AFP) – Hurricane Ike appears to have damaged about 10 oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, US officials said Sunday, raising concerns that the storm could hurt oil production and lead to a spike in prices at US gas stations. Eileen Angelico, a spokeswoman with the US Mineral Management Service […]
Death watch for Lehman Brothers as no buyer emerges
WASHINGTON, September 15, 2008 (AFP) – A last-ditch effort to find a buyer for troubled Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers appeared near collapse Sunday in a turbulent weekend for the finance sector.As emergency weekend talks on Lehman’s woes were being held in New York, a London source at British bank Barclays, who requested anonymity, […]
Sri Lanka PM arrives in Japan
TOKYO, September 15, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake on Monday arrived in Japan, the South Asian country’s top donor, for talks with counterpart Yasuo Fukuda, officials said.Fukuda, who abruptly resigned two weeks ago, will formally stay in office as Japan’s prime minister until parliament appoints the next prime minister following the […]
Credit Shuffle
Sept 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run petroleum utility Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) is covering overdue government accounts with an Iranian credit, but its finances are too fragile to cut prices, a top official said.Iran has given the CPC a rolling credit to cover four months of imports interest free and another three months […]
Sri Lanka central bank says August money growth controlled
Sept 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it had maintained targets for reserve money, in the months of July and August, which is its main operational target instead of policy rates, causing inflation and credit growth to fall. The average reserve money in August was 280.9 billion rupees, indicating a growth of […]
Bunker Move
Sept 14, 2008 (LBO) – Lanka Marine Services (LMS), a unit of John Keells Holdings selling bunkers in Colombo port, has moved out most of its stocks from a tank farm by the court ordered deadline of September 12, a media report said.The Sunday Times quoting sources at Sri Lanka’s revenue office said, it had […]
‘s war-torn north
September 14, 2008 (AFP) – The United Nations said Sunday its aid staff were unable to comply with a Sri Lankan government order to quit the war-torn north of the island because of protests by local civilians. UN agencies say some 160,000 people have been displaced in the past few months in the districts of […]
EU finance chiefs still see no end in sight to crisis
NICE, September 14, 2008 (AFP) – The crisis roiling the financial sector will probably grind on for some time, but European banks should be able to avert serious trouble, EU finance chiefs said. US investment bank Lehman Brothers’ fight for its very survival over the weekend highlighted just how fragile the sector remains more than […]
‘s Brown facing growing revolt
LONDON, September 14, 2008 (AFP) – The calls for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to face a leadership contest grew Sunday as former ministers attacked his performance and more party members backed a showdown. The mutiny against Brown gathered pace less than 48 hours after a member of his government for the first time broke […]
Pricing Politics
Sept 14, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan fuel users are suffering from the lack of a transparent price formula and severe politicization of pricing that had sometimes caused high inflation and balance of payments troubles in the island. Diesel users are mostly commercial enterprises and super rich sections of society including politicians who are allowed […]
Three dead in New Delhi blasts: report
NEW DELHI, September 13, 2008 (AFP) – Three people were killed as a series of blasts hit the Indian capital New Delhi on Saturday, television reports said. India’s Star News network said the three died in an explosion in the central Connaught Place district.Another Indian television network CNN-IBN also reported three people had died. Police […]
Maldives can maintain dollar peg if budgets improve: IMF
Sept 13, 2008 (LBO) – The Maldives can maintain its dollar peg despite a steep rise in inflation if budgets improve and the island’s newly re-constituted monetary authority does not print money to finance fiscal deficits, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.–break— Inflation was projected at 15 percent for 2008 up from 7.4 percent, […]