Sri Lanka shuts sole refinery after pipeline damage

Sri Lanka has shut its sole 50,000 barrels-per-day oil refinery for a few days after damage to a floating pipeline at the Colombo port, an official said on Monday.

The shutdown is unlikely to have a large impact on the Asian diesel market as Sri Lanka's gasoil demand is lower than usual at the moment due to the monsoon season, traders said.

The island nation's petroleum ministry said the Sapugaskanda refinery on the outskirts of the capital was shut on Saturday after the damage on Aug. 31, which compelled a ship carrying 135,000 tonnes of crude oil to wait at the port.

The shutdown has prompted state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp (Ceypetco) to seek additional oil products to manage the supply shortfall.

Gaza: An Act of Despair

A Palestinian man has died after setting himself on fire, apparently in response to the economic hardships in Gaza, his family and the police said Monday. The man, Ehab Abu Nada, 18, left home on Thursday after an argument with his father, who had urged him to find work to help feed his family. Frustrated in his job hunt, he set himself on fire inside a Gaza hospital. He was pronounced dead on Sunday. A United Nations report published last week put the poverty rate at 40 percent among Gaza’s 1.6 million people and said nearly 30 percent were jobless.