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SriLankan Airlines gets global air safety certification
Nov 30, 2007 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines has said it had received an international air transport safety audit certification a year ahead of a global deadline. . Corrected The airline has been added to the Registry of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit, which measures safety and quality standards among airlines throughout […]
China to stop arresting women for carrying condoms: state press
BEIJING, Nov 30, 2007 (AFP) – Chinese police are to stop arresting women who carry condoms, traditionally seen as evidence of prostitution, in an effort to help curb the spread of AIDS, state press said Friday.Despite efforts to stop the practice, women in China are still being sent to labour camps for prostitution offences merely […]
Market stress keeps economic outlook murky: Bernanke
WASHINGTON, Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) – The Federal Reserve sees a high degree of uncertainty in the US economic outlook and is worried that strains in financial markets may lead to broader problems, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday.In remarks prepared for delivery to a business group in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bernanke said policymakers are […]
Vaas, Murali feats no distraction, says Sri Lanka captain
KANDY, Sri Lanka, Nov 30, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will not be sidetracked by the record feats of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan when the first Test against England starts on Saturday, captain Mahela Jayawardene said. While off-spinner Muralitharan needs five wickets to become Test cricket’s most successful bowler, seamer Vaas will become only […]
Sri Lanka warned of impending foreign debt crisis by IMF
Nov 30, 2007 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that Sri Lanka may be heading towards a foreign debt crisis unless the island changed its recent habit of borrowing commercial dollars to bridge high budget deficits. IMF’s executive directors in an assessment after the international monetary watchdog completed its annual Article IV […]
Small Finance
Nov 28, 2007 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka has assigned a ‘B+(lka)’ National Long-term rating to Sri Lanka’s Vallibel Finance Ltd. (VFL) with a stable outlook. VFL, a small registered finance company with a single office in Colombo, has managed to improve growth and shift to more profitable businesses since it was acquired by Dhammika […]
Sri Lanka to raise milch cows on grazing land freed from Tigers
Nov 29, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is trying to make use of grazing lands freed from the grip of Tamil Tiger rebels in the island’s east to increase domestic fresh milk production. . The initiative would help meet domestic demand and reduce imports at a time when global milk prices have doubled owing to […]
Political Wages
Nov 29, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s large tea plantations have slammed state interference in wages that saw unions effectively egged onto breaking a legal wage deal and plantations firms forced into a new agreement. The Planters Association (PA), an industry body representing tea farms said the companies “were literally forced to accept the government […]
Japan looks at everyday use of robots
TOKYO, Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) – Japan, which has taken the lead in developing a generation of high-tech if quirky robots, is now getting down to reality by looking at what humanoids can actually do for people.Some 200 companies and more than 50 organisations from Japan and abroad are taking part in the 2007 International […]
Sri Lanka Tests on despite blasts, England says
KANDY, Sri Lanka, Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) – England’s cricket test series in Sri Lanka will go ahead despite two deadly bomb attacks blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels that killed at least 19 people, officials said Thursday.The British High Commission (embassy) told team management, preparing for Saturday’s first Test in Kandy, the travel advisory warning […]
Sri Lanka terror blasts condemned by EU
Nov 29, 2007 (LBO) – The European Union Thursday said it condemns the terrorist attacks in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo in which at least 18 people were killed. . But an EU statement released by the British High Commission did not name the perpetrators of the attacks whom the island government has identified as […]
Security clampdown in Sri Lanka capital after deadly blasts: police
Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan forces threw a security blanket over the capital Colombo on Thursday and appealed for extra public vigilance a day after twin bomb attacks left 19 people dead and 45 injured, police said.“There is a general security alert across Colombo,” police spokesman Jayantha Wickremaratna said. Officials have blamed the […]