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Sri Lanka presses France to clamp down on Tamil Tigers
PARIS, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s foreign minister said Thursday he had won assurances from French authorities that they will take action to curb the activities of Tamil rebel supporters in France.Sri Lankan government troops have been fighting Tamil separatist rebels since 1972 and the conflict has claimed more than 60,000 lives. Foreign […]
Sri Lanka tightens labour laws
Sept 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is doubling the time given under its labour laws for aggrieved employees to seek redress, rolling a back a previous decision to limit the period, a senior minister said. Minister Anura Yapa said the cabinet of ministers had approved a request by labour minister Athauda Seneviratne to increase […]
Eyes Skinned
Sept 05, 2007 (LBO) – Fitch Sri Lanka said it was maintaining a rating watch on six regional banks which was imposed following a government announcement that they would be merged with two other newly created state banks. Fitch put five regional banks on rating watch ‘evolving’ indicating that the rating could be changed after […]
Sri Lanka leisure firms asked to list in Maldives
Sept 06, 2007 (LBO) – Maldives has asked Sri Lankan firms operating resorts in the atoll nation to sell a part of their stake through a stock market flotation, a senior minister said. Two of Sri Lanka’s top leisure groups — Aitken Spence & Co. Ltd and John Keells Holdings Ltd — have significant presence […]
Sri Lanka to encourage cashew cultivation, consumption
Sept 06, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has started a programme to encourage the cultivation and consumption of cashew nuts, saying it is good for health and has a good export potential. “Cashew is a crop that will help eradicate poverty as it grows in difficult areas and is easy to grow, not needing much […]
Regressive Tax
Sept 06, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has dropped a controversial fixed levy from mobile phones which would have hit the poorest phone users the hardest, but slapped a 7.5 percent tax on calls, telecom minister Rauf Hakeem told parliament Thursday. The government initially proposed a fixed 50 rupee charge which would have hit the […]
More Cash
Sept 06, 2007 (LBO) – Massachusetts-based Virtusa Corp., an IT services firm with operations in Sri Lanka that raised 57 million dollars from a NASDAQ listing last month, said its first quarter profit fell slightly. “The company’s effective tax rate increased from 3.6 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2007 to 20.4 percent in […]
Roaming Call
Sept 06, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan mobile operator Mobitel has launched two international roaming services for customers travelling overseas. One service is the loyalty programme for in-bound international roaming customers, launched in collaboration with Travelling Connect, a global provider of loyalty management services to the telecommunication industry. A statement by Mobitel, a subsidiary of […]
West worried India would tip APEC power balance: official
SYDNEY, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) – Western countries are behind moves to keep India out of an Asia-Pacific grouping because they are concerned that its entry would tip the balance of power towards Asia, an official said Thursday. India was among a group of nations frozen out after foreign and trade ministers of the group […]
Massive Myanmar quake, tsunami could kill millions around Bay of Bengal
PARIS, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) – The northern tip of the Bay of Bengal, home to tens of millions of people, faces a potential double whammy from an earthquake and tsunami, a scientist warned on Wednesday.He says the peril does not appear to be immediate but says there are many unknowns and further work is […]