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Sri Lanka Aitken Spence Hotels buoyed by overseas gains
Feb 12, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence Hotels said group net profit for the December 2008 quarter shot up almost 200 percent to 358 million rupees. Revenue for the nine months to December 31, 2008 rose eight percent to 4,505 million rupees The company said six months of the period under review relates […]
Sri Lanka tourism re-launch mooted
Feb 12, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourist hotel industry body has suggested a fresh campaign to promote the island as a destination for visitors now that the ethnic war that deterred tourists is ending. “Sri Lanka tourism is beginning to be cautiously optimistic, with the inevitable end to the long and protracted war situation,” […]
Sri Lanka tea prices tumble
Feb 12, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices fell at this week’s Colombo auction with lower buying from key markets like Russia contributing to the decline, brokers said.The better teas were selectively sought after by shippers to Japan, Pakistan and possibly the Continent. But there was noticeably less activity this week from shippers to […]
Tele Cricket
February 12, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s second largest mobile phone operator on Thursday agreed a three-year deal worth nearly five million dollars to sponsor the island’s cricket team, Sri Lanka Cricket said. The Sri Lankan team, led by outgoing captain Mahela Jayawardene, leaves for Pakistan on Saturday for a two-Test series, which begins on […]
Medicine Men
LONDON, February 12, 2009 (AFP) – International aid agency Oxfam urged the World Bank and rich nations Thursday to stop “wasting” donations and possibly risking lives by backing unproven private healthcare programmes in poor countries.While Lebanon spends twice as much as Sri Lanka on healthcare, its infant and maternal mortality rates are 2.5 and three […]
Space Debris
WASHINGTON, February 12, 2009 (AFP) – Two satellites collided in space hundreds of miles (kilometers) above Earth, destroying an Iridium commercial satellite in a crash that may result in disruption of service, the US company said Wednesday.“This satellite loss may result in very limited service disruption in the form of brief, occasional outages,” it said, […]
Sri Lankan troops declare new civilian safe zone
February 12, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops declared a new safe zone for civilians Thursday as they battled to finish off the island’s drawn-out ethnic conflict, the defence ministry said. Concern has mounted for tens of thousands of non-combatants trapped in the war zone, with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) saying […]
Sri Lankan troops kill 28 Tamil Tigers: military
February 12, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops killed 28 Tamil rebels and seized a cache of weapons and ammunition in their latest push for victory in the island’s drawn-out ethnic conflict, the government said Thursday.The Red Cross carried out a similar sea evacuation of 240 patients on Tuesday, saying the group had been stranded […]
Sri Lanka treasuries yields ease after rate cut
Feb 11, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Treasuries yields fell less-than-expected across maturities following a 50 basis point cut in the island’s de facto policy discount rate, dealers said. Since Friday the market had already partially discounted the rates cuts, they said. The Central Bank cut the 17.0 percent unrestricted ‘penalty’ reverse repo rate, which […]
Sri Lanka fund manager to arbitrage risk anomaly
Feb 11, 2009 (LBO) – A fund management firm founded by senior Sri Lankan bankers say it can bridge the gap between low yielding bank deposits and risky high yield assets, by arbitraging an anomaly in the risk to reward structure in the island. Chief executive of Wealth Trust, Dhammika Ranawana, who counts years of […]