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Living Daylights
July 10, 2007 (LBO) – SriLankan airlines will fly only during daytime till mid-September, to ensure that connections are available to other airlines and insurance fees are negotiated, the airline said Tuesday. “This has ensured that travel to Sri Lanka was facilitated without any significant interruption or reduction in capacity,” he said. “SriLankan Airlines is […]
Sri Lanka tea firms lose on wage hikes and strikes
July 10, 2007 (LBO) – A pay hike wrested by workers with a strike on Sri Lanka’s tea estates last year has taken its toll on two more plantations companies, Kahawatte Plantations and Madulsima Plantations, with both firms reporting losses. “For the industry, it is indeed a dilemma to reconcile social responsibilities with the realities […]
Tax Pain
July 10, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exporters have warned that delays in tax refunds and disbursements of export cess were hurting overseas marketing efforts and driving some businesses near bankruptcy. Delays experienced by exporters in getting value added tax (VAT) refunds is a “burning question,” said Mohan Mendis, the outgoing chairman of the Exporters’ […]
Phone Charges
July 10, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom has said it plans to switch to a time-based tariff structure from a unit-based one as part of a court settlement in which it will cut call charges. The case will be called again on August 27. In a telecom operator revenues are usually made up of […]
Bangladesh in first day blues against Sri Lanka?
KANDY, Sri Lanka, July 10, 2007 (AFP) – Bangladesh are hounded by their repeated first innings failures as Sri Lanka seek a 3-0 sweep when the final Test starts here on Wednesday. The hosts, who won the previous two Tests by innings margins and plenty of time to spare, are firm favourites to secure their […]
Tigers slow Sri Lanka advance on eastern jungle base
July 10, 2007 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels in the east of Sri Lanka are showing stiff resistance and have slowed a military advance on a strategic jungle base, defence authorities here said Tuesday.The government denies carrying out attacks inside rebel-held territory. Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters the Tiger rebels were still holed up […]
Risk Capital
July 09, 2007 (LBO) – At a time when the banking system is moving towards Basle II system, Sri Lanka’s insurance industry could benefit from the risk based capital (RBC) model, an international insurance professional has said. LBO: When you bring in something like RBC does it give you more flexibility to the industry? Webber: […]
Sri Lanka to tighten controls on tea imports
July 09, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Tea Board plans to double the import duty on foreign-made teas and introduce quality certification for imports to prevent illicit blending with Ceylon Tea. . Officials say this is aimed at safeguarding the image of pure Ceylon Tea. Under the new rules, to be gazetted soon, the import […]
Bug Fighting
July 9, 2007 (LBO) – The United States has given Sri Lanka protective gear, test and decontamination kits to combat an outbreak of bird flu, the US embassy in Colombo said.Sri Lanka government’s Department of Animal Production and Health had received 4,500 suits of personal protection equipment, 1,500 rapid test kits, and 40 decontamination kits […]
Please Hurry
July 9, 2007 (LBO) – A Hong Kong based rights body has offered to foot a part of the legal fees to appeal the case of a young Sri Lankan girl condemned to death in Saudi Arabia with time rapidly running out to appeal her case. The Asian Human Rights Commission is urging the Sri […]