Britain revises Sri Lanka travel warning

July 3, 2009 (LBO) – Britain has eased a travel advisory to Sri Lanka’s east but has warned of rising ant-British rhetoric amid an upsurge of nationalism and possible detentions of people of ethnic Tamil origin.“This has led to violent protests against the British High Commission and other diplomatic premises.” Though Tamil Tigers have been […]

Sri Lanka favours GM food: agriculture minister

July 03, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is not opposed to genetically modified (GM) food and is likely to allow their use with certain restrictions, a government minister has said.Hemakumara Nanayakkara, the non-Cabinet minister of agricultural development, said the government was consulting foreign experts on allowing GM food imports and cultivation of GM crops. He […]

Passion restored, Pakistan relish Sri Lanka tour

KARACHI, July 2, 2009 (AFP) – Pakistan start their Test series against Sri Lanka Saturday riding the wave of a feel-good factor after winning the World Twenty20 and giving their country a much-needed respite from bombs and battles.When Pakistan won the championship in England last month, the victory renewed the country’s passion for the game, […]

Injured Murali out of Pakistan Test

GALLE, July 3, 2009 (AFP) – Muttiah Muralitharan was on Friday ruled out of the first Test against Pakistan with a knee injury, dealing a huge blow to Sri Lanka’s bid to win the emotionally-charged series.The spin wizard hurt his patella tendon during training on Thursday and will sit out of the opening game of […]

Zimbabwe recovering under central bank competition; no inflation: IMF

July 3, 2009 (LBO) – Zimbabwe is starting to recover within months of the money monopoly of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe being broken, which allowed foreign currencies to compete against the hyperinflating domestic currency. In a ‘dollarized’ economy, transactions are conducted in foreign currency and people also save in foreign money and the government […]

Sri Lanka IMF loan depends on Executive Board: official

July 3, 2009 (LBO) – The award of a stand by loan for Sri Lanka by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is awaiting approval of its executive board, which is yet to set a date to consider the application, an official said. “But discussions are continuing, and the finalization of the program, as with any […]

Sri Lankan stocks down 0.41-pct on profit taking

July 02, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares continued to slide for the fourth straight day as retail investors carried on taking profits, while high net worth and institutional investors stayed on the sidelines, brokers said. Commercial Bank of Ceylon closed at 135.00 rupees, up 5.00, while National Development Bank closed at 155.00 rupees, up […]

Bunker Vessel

July 02, 2009 (LBO) – Lanka Maritime Services, a Sri Lankan supplier of ship fuel, said it has acquired an 8,800 DWT double-hull tanker to supply bunkers to ships calling at Colombo port.“This was to avoid loss of foreign exchange by way of payment of demurrage on chartered vessels and also reduce expenses in order […]

‘s money in agriculture

July 02, 2009 (LBO) – The head of Sri Lanka’s Chemical Industries (Colombo) (CIC) said the company’s investments in agriculture proved it was profitable but investors should target niche, high-value products as land was limited.The company arranges visits to farms for people interested in entering the sector and also train about 1,000 farmers a year […]

Just Safeguards

July 02, 2009 (LBO) – Many of the safeguards guaranteed by Sri Lanka’s laws of evidence were missing in recent fundamental rights petitions where private parties were involved, and there was a reliance on third party accounts, a senior lawyer said.Senior lawyer K Kanag-Isvaran said the articles 10 to 15 of Sri Lanka’s constitution guaranteed […]

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