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‘s restive north: military
May 15, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops smashed rebel bunkers and traded fire with guerrillas across the island’s north, leaving at least 25 people dead in total, the defence ministry said Thursday. The ministry said security forces carried out “limited operations” in the regions of Mannar, Weli Oya, Vavuniya and Janakapura on Wednesday, as […]
Sri Lanka Allianz unit offers directors and officers liability insurance
May 15, 2008 (LBO) – Allianz Insurance Lanka has launched a business unit to provide directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance to Sri Lanka’s private and public corporates. The insured are indemnified for defense costs and any legal claims, according to a statement by the company, a fully owned subsidiary of Munich headquartered conglomerate Allianz. […]
US House passes subsidy-heavy farm bill
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2008 (AFP) – The US House of Representatives Wednesday passed a mammoth 290 billion dollar farm bill with a veto-proof majority, which includes subsidies for farmers and help with food bills for the needy.The 100-seat Senate was likely to pick up the bill as early as Wednesday night, where sponsors also hoped […]
German inflation cut to 2.4 percent in April
FRANKFURT, May 15, 2008 (AFP) – Inflation in Germany fell to 2.4 percent in April from 3.1 percent in March, but remains above the European Central Bank’s target of just below two percent, data confirmed Thursday. Final figures for the annual inflation rate released by the statistics office confirmed a preliminary estimate based on a […]
Japan should be allowed to re-sell US rice: NGO
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2008 (AFP) – The United States should allow Japan to sell its 1.5 million tons of imported US rice or give it to the World Food Program to help cool runaway rice prices, a nongovernmental organization said Wednesday. “An agreement by Washington and Tokyo for Japan to release its 1.5 million tons […]
Terror threat from South Asia still top US concern
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2008 (AFP) – The United States has poured nearly 40 billion dollars in aid to South Asia since the September 11 attacks but the terror threat from the region remains a top problem, a congressional hearing was told Wednesday. “South Asia is arguably the place from which America faces the greatest terrorist […]
Sri Lanka treasury yields fall across tenors
May 14, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Treasury bill yields tumbled across tenors with the benchmark 3-month yield falling 54 basis points to 17.55 percent, the government’s debt office said. The debt office which is a unit of the country’s central bank said the government sold 6.0 billion rupees worth of bills out of a […]
Repeat Business
May 14, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Colombo Dockyard, a unit of Japan’s Onomichi and the country’s sole listed shipbuilder, has won two new orders from Greatship (India), for bigger and more expensive vessels, an official said. Greatship is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Great Eastern Shipping Company. The firm had previously ordered four […]
Margin Play
May 14, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon has seen margins squeezed in 2007 amidst directed lending and rising funding costs, but has pushed up fee income and cut bad loans in the period. In 2007 group revenue rose 40 percent to 52.3 billion rupees while interest income rose 56 percent to […]
Costly Ruling
May 14, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s five-star city hotel Galadari Hotels said Wednesday it had been ordered to pay 101 million rupees in an arbitration hearing but that it would appeal against the ruling.The hotel said in a Colombo stock exchange filing that an arbitrator at the Sri Lanka National Arbitration Centre had delivered […]