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Preliminary results released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) today showed of the 31 destinations reporting half-year arrivals Sri Lanka was seen as one of the growth leaders with 37 per cent growth from January to June 2011. Myanmar and Thailand with gains of 29 per cent and 28 per cent respectively were the other two clear growth leaders. Collectively, these 31 destinations generated growth of 5.3 per cent for the Asia/Pacific region during the first half of 2011. “While European arrivals remain key to South Asia’s growth, Southeast Asia will be driven by the rapidly growing China and India outbound markets while Northeast Asia is expected to see strong gains in arrivals from Southeast Asia driven by the steadily growing LCC network,” Kris Lim, Director, Strategic Intelligence Centre, PATA, said. International arrivals growth to South Asia was a robust 12 per cent in June, boosted by double-digit increases in inbound numbers to Nepal (+38 per cent), the Maldives (+27 ...

The Justice Department made a bold move when it sued to block AT&T Inc's $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile. Now comes the hard part: going to court. The government is asking a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to stop the deal, and will have to prove that it would mean higher prices and less competition. "This will be the Obama administration's line in the sand. This will be their signature antitrust event," said University of Baltimore law school professor Robert Lande. AT&T has said it will fight the case, and its general counsel said it plans to seek an expedited hearing from the judge. Even so, experts say, the company could decide that it is not worth the expense and uncertainty to go to trial. An AT&T spokeswoman declined to comment. Two big communications deals, MCI's proposed takeover of Sprint in 1999 and EchoStar Communications Corp's deal to buy Hughes Electronic Corp's DirecTV in 2001 fell apart after the Justice D...

The UNP have formulated a plan for the development of Colombo city while the government’s actions have caused great difficulty amongst the city’s residents, UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake stated. Developing the city is not merely breaking down walls and building roads he stated while adding that the government is already drawing up plans to remove the slum dwellers in Colombo from their homes.

The Bandarawela Magistrate ordered 22 suspects, who handed themselves over to the police in connection to the murder of two people in the Thotalagala area in Haputale, to be remanded until September 8. The suspects along with a stock of weapons surrendered to the police in the presence of a lawyer while the other five suspects who were arrested in connection with the murder will also be in remand until September 8. Two salesmen were assaulted and killed by a group of labourers after they were considered to be suspicious on August 11.

The backup vehicle of Deputy Minister  Vinayagamoorthy  Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman has met with an accident at Manampitiya, Achchibokkuwa area at 4.40am today. Two STF personnel have been admitted to the Polonnaruwa hospital following the accident. The vehicle had veered off the road causing the accident.

The coastal railway line from Aluthgama to Galle will be closed from midnight today for six months. Addressing the media earlier this month, the Minister of Transport Kumara Welgama said the rail track will be closed for upgrading under the second phase of the high-speed southern railway project. The entire project of the high-speed southern railway line from Matara to Colombo will end by May 2012. The reconstructed Galle-Matara segment was opened last February for high-speed passenger train transport. Trains currently ply at a speed of 100 kilometres per hour on the newly laid Galle-Matara railway track, the Minister stated earlier.

“Eid-ul- Fitr” marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan will be tomorrow (August 31), the Colombo Grand Mosque announced. Muslims in Sri Lanka will be celebrating Eid-Ul Fitr tomorrow as the new moon has been sighted at Thoppur, Trincomalee, Mr. N. Hasan General Secretary of the Mosque told