Soft Skills

May 28, 2010 (LBO) – An information technology firm has set up a software development centre in Sri Lanka’s former war-torn eastern region with support from the United States, its embassy in Colombo said. Kingslake Engineering Systems had set up development centre in Akkaraipatti in the Ampara district with financial support from the US Agency […]

Australia to start legal action against Japan over whaling

SYDNEY, May 28, 2010 (AFP) – Australia will start legal action to stop Japan hunting whales next week, officials said on Friday, following years of tensions over the annual slaughter in waters near Antarctica. Documents will be submitted to the International Court of Justice in The Hague “early next week”, after repeated threats of proceedings […]

Sri Lanka president rejects foreign war crimes probe

May 28, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse has rejected international calls for a war crimes probe into the final offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels last year. Sri Lanka has been under pressure to submit to an international investigation after the United Nations reported that at least 7,000 civilians perished in the final […]

Sri Lanka needs to contain deficit for long term growth: ADB chief

May 28, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has to contain its fiscal deficit to sustain growth and maintain stability as the country emerges from a 30-year conflict and rebuilds war damaged infrastructure, Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda said. In 2009, Sri Lanka’s deficit expanded to 9.8 percent of gross domestic product overshooting a 7.0 […]

Sri Lanka welcomes end to US travel warning

May 27, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Thursday welcomed the lifting of a US warning against travel to the Indian Ocean island, anticipating a boost to tourism and investment a year after a bloody civil war ended. The number of holidaymakers arriving in the four months to April this year rose nearly 50 percent […]

Great Expectations

May 27, 2010 (LBO) – Education is an issue which many of us think we know how to fix, but, nobody is giving us the reigns. Lucky Minister Bandula Gunawardna the education ministry has fallen on his lap. Unlucky Minister BG – expectations about the ministry are high but there is no way that they […]

Boat People

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27, 2010 (AFP) – Sixty-one Sri Lankan asylum seekers held in a Malaysian immigration depot Thursday entered day three of a hunger strike in a desperate effort to win freedom and settlement in a third country. Immigration authorities could not be reached for comment. Activists say Malaysia is often used as a […]

Sri Lanka forex reserve edge up in March

May 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka foreign exchange reserves rose to 5,192 million US dollars in March 2010 from 5,032 million dollars a month earlier, with imports and remittances also expanding, the Central Bank said. Sri Lanka’s has a pegged exchange rate and foreign remittances as well as net foreign borrowings of the state […]

Sri Lanka stocks close 0.5-pct up

May 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed higher Wednesday helped by midcap and penny stocks, while Confifi Hotels stocks shot up 46.5 percent amidst low volume trading in take-over play, brokers said. Asia Capital, an investment bank with stock brokering licenses closed at 33.00 rupees, up 2.00, Ceylon Hospitals closed at 75. 75 […]

Sri Lanka Confifi hotel shares up on take-over play

May 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Confifi group hotels shares rose 46 percent to 318 rupees Wednesday with buyers expecting a battle for management control after Lanka Orix Leasing Company bought into the group. LOLC bought a 43.3 percent stake in Confifi Hotel Holdings, which in additional to owning a hotel also owns 21.8 […]

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