All Blogs
US disaster aid expert in Sri Lanka to study refugee crisis in Trincomalee
Aug 18 (LBO) – The United States government’s international aid agency has sent a disaster expert to study the refugee crisis in the country’s eastern Trincomalee area, the US embassy in Colombo said Friday. œAccording to information gathered from United Nations and NGO sources, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) estimates that at least […]
EU urges resumption of Sri Lanka peace talks
HELSINKI, Aug 18, 2006 (AFP) – The Finnish presidency of the European Union has called on the warring parties in Sri Lanka to return to the negotiating table after renewed fighting in the South Asian island nation. “The presidency urges the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to cease […]
Not liberal
August 18 (LBO) – Sri Lankan based gas distributor Laugfs, who wants to blend and produce lubricants locally, says conditions for entering the newly liberalized market is discriminating against domestic applicants. Last month, Sri Lanka invited new lubricant players to invest in the country, following interest from a few foreign companies, but a brand must […]
Double Blow
August 18 (LBO) – Mysterious grenade attacks and pricing problems have pushed down sales of the Sri Lankan subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation, with the firm also eyeing a price hike in September to arrest losses. The fuel retailer found hand grenades in two of its fuel sheds in the heart of Colombo on Thursday, […]
Sri Lanka economy booms despite bombs and bloodshed
COLOMBO, Aug 18, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is expected to record its highest annual economic growth in 28 years despite escalating violence in the decades-old separatist conflict, analysts said. Security has deteriorated since December with aerial bombings, artillery attacks, suicide bombings and fierce face-to-face confrontations that have officially claimed at least 1,500 lives. However, […]
Clear Run
August 17 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has got two bids with German and Malaysian funding to build 16 flyovers and interchanges in Colombo over two years, officials said.A group of local construction firms with funding from German state bank KfW and a Malaysian firm backed by Malaysia’s Export-Import Bank, put in bids. The government has […]
Finance Rating
August 17 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has given the flagship finance company of Sri Lanka’s Ceylinco Group, a BBB (lka) rating with a stable outlook, the rating agency said Thursday. Established in 1940, TFC has 32 branches. The Finance Company (TFC) is a listed company with an asset base of 25.2 billion rupees is largest […]
Japan ups tea imports from Sri Lanka
August 16 (LBO) – Japan has upped its purchase of black tea from Sri Lanka in recent months, as quality of local tea improves and exporters comply with tougher standards. Exports to Japan were up 32.28 percent to as at end April this year to 3558 kilos of black tea, just behind China as top tea […]
Japan proposes 16-nation Asian trade bloc: officials
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 (AFP) – Japanese officials on Thursday proposed a sprawling 16-nation free-trade grouping with China, South Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and the 10-nation Southeast Asian bloc, officials said. The 16 last year formed the East Asia Summit — seen as a precursor of a giant free-trade community embracing half the world’s […]
Fate of ancient brothel hangs in the balance in China
BEIJING, Aug 17 (AFP) – A city in central China is agonizing over whether it should preserve an ancient building that once housed a brothel in case it is seen as promoting prostitution, state media said Thursday. The problem is that if the authorities at Jinggang in Hunan province decide not to save the structure, […]