Takes delivery of first aircraft with new premium economy product and long haul economy class seats Cathay Pacific Airways has taken delivery of a new Boeing 777-300ER that is the first aircraft to feature its Premium Economy Class product and new long-haul Economy Class seats. At the same time

Last Sunday when the unknown Ajinkya Rahane scored 103 runs off just 60 balls at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, which helped the Rajasthan Royals to score a massive 195 runs at IPL season five, my mind went to just one ethos the IPL is all about – highlighting performance. It is how IPL ...

PYONGYANG,(Reuters) : North Korea’s new leader delivered his first major public speech on Sunday as the impoverished state celebrated the centenary of its founder’s birth, calling for a push to “final victory” despite a failed rocket launch two days earlier. A jowly Kim Jong-un, clad in black and the third of his line to rule ...

Reuters: U.S. employers hired far fewer workers in March than in previous months, keeping the door open for the Federal Reserve to provide more monetary support for a still sluggish economy. The report was seized upon by Republicans hoping to make the weak economy the centerpiece of their campaign

nAward-winning carrier spends Rs. 200 m on plush dedicated facility for First and Business Class passengers and Skywards Gold members Emirates has opened its own dedicated passenger lounge at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake (BIA), becoming the first international airline to invest in such a facility at the BIA. Completed at a cost of Rs. ...

Reuters: Federal Reserve policymakers on Monday signaled little appetite for further monetary steps to stimulate U.S. growth in an economy that is gradually strengthening. “With my current outlook, I think our policy stance is still the one best suited to foster steady gains in output

With the recent relaxing of the rupee exchange rate and subsequent increase in fuel prices, trade unions and the opposition parties are conducting protest campaigns against the Government, demanding a reduction in oil prices and the cost of living. This article investigates the living conditions of citizens in the recent past and present, quality and ...

REUTERS: In the face of aggression from the United States or Israel, Iran will attack to defend itself, Iran’s most powerful figure, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday.  “We do not have nuclear weapons and we will not build them but in the face of aggression from the enemies, whether from America or the Zionist ...

When one saw recent pictures of a fit and energetic Chief Executive of Sri Lanka Inc. dashing downfield with a football, for a moment many would have wondered if football in Sri Lanka had indeed found a new sponsor, the State itself! But with the Minister of Sports watching intently, we were soon to realise ...

Can clothes, fashion accessories and makeup make a country look democratic?Dictators have begun to dress up their autocratic regimes in the manner of democracies with all the mod cons that help to pass off a system of government, which is for all purposes a dictatorship, as a five-star democracy. This in the manner that a ...

Accor has opened the largest ibis hotel in Asia Pacific. The ibis Bandung Trans Studio with 606 contemporary guest rooms is located in the city of Bandung, West Java, adjacent to Bandung Supermal and Trans Studio, one of the largest indoor theme parks in Asia. With new direct flights from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, ibis ...

“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision” – Ayn Rand, Russian-American Novelist Queueing for bread Forgotten are the days when people waited in line for two to three hours to buy a loaf of bread; forgotten are the days when rice was not available ...

Reuters: Greece claimed a major success for its bond swap offer to private creditors on Friday after it won heavy acceptance for a deal that averts the immediate risk of an uncontrolled default on its massive public debt.  The finance ministry said 85.8 percent of its 177 billion euros in bonds regulated under Greek law ...

NEWYORK(Reuters): Travellers still long to experience far-off places and exotic locations, but destinations are not the only driving force in the travel industry. Travel experts say vacationers are increasingly matching their interests and passions, whether it is cooking, yoga, wine-making, culture or a longing for adventure, with the places they decide to visit. “Travel continues ...

Benito Mussolini, the fascist ruler of Italy, during World War II, said that his brand of fascism ‘should be more appropriately called Corporatism, because it is a merger of state and corporate power’. Compare this with the dictionary definition of capitalism: ‘A system in which a country’s business and industry are controlled and run for ...

Subsidies? Well yes, but make them smart subsidiesNigeria: Subsidising the neighbours Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamidi Sanusi, had a problem. In a recent live interview with the Aljazeera TV, he said that his country had to raise the retail prices of all petroleum products to match the rising international prices, despite the violent and ...

Reuters: Iran ordered a halt to its oil sales to Britain and France on Sunday in a move seen as retaliation against tightening EU sanctions, as a team of U.N. inspectors flew to Tehran to press the Islamic Republic over its disputed nuclear programme. The European Union enraged Tehran last month when it decided to ...

Reuters: On a recent Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight, water flowed from the toilets through the aisles during the entire journey from London to Islamabad. "What if it reaches some electrical wires and puts us in danger?" said one concerned passenger to another after flight attendants brushed off repeated complaints. "This could be a catastrophe." ...

Emirates, the leading international airline of the UAE, has opened its first airport lounge on the US West Coast, at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), representing a $ 4 million investment in the Bay Area. The SFO lounge has been designed with the same attention to detail as Emirates’ lounges throughout the world, including the ...

Cathay Pacific has started selling its new Premium Economy Class for flights departing from 1 April 2012. The new Premium Economy experience features a quieter, more spacious cabin than the traditional Economy Class with between 26 and 34 seats per aircraft. The seat pitch will be 38 inches –

LONDON (Reuters) : Oil hit a six-month high near $120 a barrel on Wednesday as concern about supply from Iran, other Middle East producers and Africa outweighed those about the health of the global economy. Prices jumped after Iran’s Press TV reported Iran had banned exports to six EU

Sri Lanka’s benchmark stock index, the world’s worst performer this year, may extend its slump as the central bank raises interest rates to curb inflation, according to HSBC Holdings Plc’s private banking unit. HSBC Private Bank, which oversees about $499 billion, will wait for stock valuations to fall to “single digit” multiples before it considers ...

Only 3 in 10 voters approve of governor's job performance, while 54 percent disapproveDemocratic Gov. Pat Quinn finds his leadership under fire from Illinois voters unhappy with the state's economy, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.

Most Illinois voters approve of president's job, Tribune/WGN-TV poll showsDespite the sluggish economy, most Illinois voters approve of Barack Obama's handling of the presidency and the president appears poised for a general election victory in his home state this fall, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.

HAS democracy failed in the Maldives? As chaos engulfs the second closest country to Sri Lanka, it is impossible not to wonder over where this change will lead. Will the country still continue as a democracy or will it fall into extremist hands? What are the lessons that Sri Lanka can learn from what has ...

The Visible Hand of the government ‘The Visible Hand’ was the title which the famed London-based economics weekly, The Economist, used when it published a special report in its issue on 21 January 2012 on the rise of state capitalism in the modern era. The title has a pun: The governments do not care to ...

Iran’s parliament said on Tuesday it was ready to impose a ban on oil exports to some European states, the country’s English-language Press TV reported.   “In retaliation to the Zionist (Israel)-backed measure of the European countries to ban Iran oil, we are ready to impose a ban on oil exports to some European countries,” ...

“It is unlikely that in making his overstatement on development that the President was seeking to downplay the achievements of the past by his illustrious predecessors in the governance of the country. In the 1950s there was the Gal Oya development scheme that opened up the vast territories of thick jungle land in the east ...

Ambassador updates foreign reporters on post-conflict development and reconciliation in Sri Lanka “Sri Lankans support a home grown solution for reconciliation” Ambassador invites international correspondents to visit Sri Lanka WASHINGTON: Ambassador Jaliya Wickramasuriya hosted a group of foreign correspondents here in a January 25 reception held at his residence, prompting a discussi...

Reuters: Mitt Romney cruised to a blowout victory in Florida’s Republican U.S. presidential primary on Tuesday that put him back in front in the fight for his party’s nomination to face President Barack Obama and left chief rival Newt Gingrich reeling but vowing to fight on. With 70 percent of the vote counted, Romney had ...