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Jail Term
VANCOUVER, May 14, 2010 (AFP) – A judge sentenced a Tamil Tiger fundraiser to six months in jail here Friday after the man pleaded guilty to raising money in Canada to help support the Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka. Powers reviewed Thambithurai’s story, from his move to Canada in 1988 as a young refugee following […]
Sri Lanka offers US55mn for Emirates stake in national carrier: report
May 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has offered 55 million US dollars to buy back a 43. 6 percent stake in national carrier SriLankan from Dubai-based Emirates airlines, a media report said. SriLankan itself was set up under the name of Air Lanka after another state airlines, Air Ceylon went under. Despite the bitter […]
Sri Lanka appoints heads to state entities
May 14, 2010 (LBO) – The chairman of Sri Lanka’s largest bank, state-run Bank of Ceylon Gamini Wickramasinghe has been re-appointed amid a series of changes made to boards of state institutions following general elections in April. Wickramasinghe is head of Informatics, an information technology group and has a masters degree in systems analysis from […]
Sri Lankan stocks close up 0.23-pct, hotels gain
May 14, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares closed higher Friday as investors continued to bet on midcap stocks with keen interest on hotel sector shares, while price gains on selected high value shares pushed Milanka index up, brokers said. The All Share Price Index closed at 4,252.44, up 0.23 percent (9.77 points) while the […]
High Spirits
May 14, 2010 (AFP) – Almost one in three Sri Lankan private bus drivers smokes marijuana or drinks alcohol before work, operators said Friday after a study into the high rate of road fatalities on the island nation. “We did a survey of buses operating in Colombo and found that about 30 percent of drivers […]
Bank Numbers
May 14, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s NDB Bank’s group net profit for the March 2010 quarter fell 34 percent to 299 million rupees from a year ago with interest income down but non-interest income increasing, latest accounts showed. Total income fell 13 percent to 3.1 billion rupees in the quarter, according to a stock […]
Other Income
May 14, 2010 (LBO) – HSBC’s Sri Lankan unit’s March quarter profits rose 103 percent to 1.41 billion rupees from higher foreign exchange and fee-based incomes despite lower net interest margins and higher operating expenses, the accounts showed. Gross assets rose 7.1 to 174 billion rupees, HSBC Sri Lanka’s March accounts showed. HSBC Sri Lanka’s […]
Sri Lanka tea prices fall as crops increase
May 14, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices fell at this week’s Colombo auctions owing to bigger quantities and lower quality and are likely to fall further in line with seasonal trends, brokers said. Prices of most teas from both the main low grown sector, which accounts for the bulk of the crop, and […]
Top Down
May 14, 2010 (LBO) – Unethical practices from the top find its way to the bottom of organizations, and picking the right talent was also important since human decisions can always override regulations, a senior business executive said. However in some cases employees sometimes bend rules when being pressurized by the top management to make […]
India plans 11 billion dollar infrastructure fund: report
NEW DELHI, May 14, 2010 (AFP) – India aims to create an 11-billion-dollar fund to overhaul its creaking infrastructure, with 40 percent of the money sourced from abroad, a report said Friday. The government wants to raise 4.4 billion dollars from foreign pension, insurance and sovereign wealth funds and the rest from domestic institutions, the […]