Sri Lanka looks to boost economic growth despite obstacles

June 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to accelerate and broaden its development activities despite the internal conflict, the island’s president said Wednesday, as an expanding budget deficit threatened to undermine growth this year. We need to fearlessly combat terrorism and develop without making it an excuse, President Mahinda Rajapakse said in a statement […]

‘s Suntel: report

June 7, 2007 (LBO) – India’s Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has put in a bid between 160 million dollars to 180 million for the Sri Lankan wireless fixed access operator Suntel, Indian news reports said. The Economic Times newspaper said the MTNL bid was believed to be the highest, though company officials declined to […]

Sri Lanka police evict jobless Tamils from capital

June 7, 2007 (AFP) – Armed police forced hundreds of ethnic minority Tamils out of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo Thursday as part of an effort to clear the city of feared Tamil Tiger cells, officials and witnesses said. Police stormed Tamil-majority areas of the capital under the cover of darkness and forced guests at […]

Sri Lanka should trim corruption and modernise education to go forward: US envoy

June 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s should trim redundant ministries, increase wages for senior officials and be more transparent to help propel the country forward, the US envoy in Colombo said. The CIMA business leaders’ summit will discuss how good, mediocre or bad companies can make the leap to be great companies. “Reduce the […]

Japanese peace envoy in talks with Sri Lanka president

June 6, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse held talks in Colombo Wednesday with a top Japanese envoy on the future of the island’s peace process following bloody recent clashes, officials said.Rajapakse held closed-door talks with Japan’s Yasushi Akashi at the president’s tightly-guarded Temple Trees residence and the peace envoy later had discussions […]

Sri Lanka finance ministry, auditor-general in row over revenue losses

June 06, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry has disputed a report by the auditor-general that weak collections led to a revenue loss of 360 billion rupees. The loss, it said in its annual report for 2006, was not more than 6.2 billion rupees of which half related to the VAT refund fraud which […]

Divine Intervention

June 6, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state electricity utility warned that power cuts would be imposed if monsoon rains do not come in the next two weeks to boost its hydro storage capacity. It engineers have warned the media last month that another unsuitable 300 MegaWatt thermal plant is being forced on the utility […]

Train blast in Sri Lanka wounds four

June 6, 2007 (AFP) – A bomb exploded under a passenger train in Sri Lanka’s embattled east on Wednesday, wounding at least four people, military officials said.A mine buried along the track went off as the train was at Navaladi in the the coastal district of Batticaloa, a military official in the area said by […]

Think tank IPN calls writers for a free society to participate in the Bastiat Prize

June 06, 2007 (LBO) – The international Policy Network (IPN), a London based think tank, is calling for writers who promote institutions for free society to take part in their annual competition. IPN’s Bastiat Prize for Journalism had been inspired by the 19th-century French philosopher and journalist Frédéric Bastiat. Last year writers from 49 countries […]

Sri Lankan Red Cross stops work for slain colleagues

June 6, 2007 (AFP) – Red Cross offices across Sri Lanka stopped work Wednesday as a mark of respect for two colleagues gunned down last week.Sri Lankan Red Cross workers Sinnarasa Shanmugalingam and Karthekesu Chandramohan were abducted in Colombo on Friday and murdered by armed men claiming to be police. They were working in the […]

Sri Lankan commercial bank widens reach of hedging products

June 06, 2007 (LBO) – The Commercial Bank of Ceylon says it is broadened the availability of forex hedging products, allowing even individuals to use them in addition to large corporates and small and medium businesses. These products will also help customers to diversify their cash investment portfolios, Commercial Bank’s Head of Global Treasury, Dula […]

Bunker Oil

June 05, 2007 (LBO) – Lanka IOC, a unit of the Indian Oil Corporation, has started a marine bunkering operation by supplying diesel to ships off the east coast of the island, an official said.“We made a humble beginning using our facilities in Trincomalee by offering bunkering services selling diesel oil to two vessels a […]

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