Author: lbostgadmin
Sri Lanka to free military deserters: official
July 24, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is to free some 1,800 jailed military deserters as part of a presidential amnesty, a justice ministry spokesman said on Friday. In 2003, the government moved to legally discharge 51,000 deserters from the security forces. Tens of thousands were killed in Sri Lanka’s decades-old Tamil separatist conflict.The pardon […]
Northern Link
July 24, 2009 (LBO) – Lanka Bell, a Sri Lankan wireless fixed access telco said it had connected the northern Jaffna peninsular to its network, opening a new base station and an office.“A high quality and purse-easy telecommunication service is an essential need of the people in Jaffna,” Lanka Bell managing director Prasad Samarasinghe said […]
Gamata IT
July 24, 2009 (LBO) – Microsoft Sri Lanka said it had begun a drive to make information technology popular in rural areas, with a local language interface, free software downloads and training. Microsoft and its partner organization would also support trading in Sinhalese and Tamil languages. Training literature would also be made available. A school […]
Easy Chats
July 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom said it won a contract to provide communications to the island’s Ministry of Science and Technology and 300 technology transfer centres that include free voice calls within the network. The deal includes supply communications services to technology institutes and research and development centres under the ministry, SLT […]
Knowledge Work
July 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s software industry said a survey of export earnings indicates it had grown rapidly in a short period and had high levels of revenue per employee and return on capital employed. “The industry is based on knowledge workers and creates high paying jobs for educated youth. IT/BPO industry is […]
Sea Links
July 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to propose reviving ferry services and a railway link with India, across the Palk Straits, at a conference of south Asian transport ministers in Colombo, the island’s transport ministry said.The two proposals will be put forward by the government during a meeting of transport ministers of the […]
Daft Draft
July 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s draft national transport policy came in for strong criticism at a public forum by experts who said it ignored important modes of private transport and private sector investment. Rohan Samarajiva, head of LirneAsia, a regional think tank, said the policy was also silent on opportunities in rebuilding transport […]
Sri Lankan stocks up 4.0-pct during week
July 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares gained on Friday as foreign investors pushed up trading volumes especially on selected blue chips such as John Keells Holdings (JKH) and banking counters, brokers said.Dialog Telekom a unit of Telekom Malaysia closed flat at 5.25 rupees. “Further improvement in activity level was seen due to the […]
Sri Lanka international airport plans expansion
July 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s sole international airprot has plans to expand further if traffic grows beyond existing capacity with the end of a three decade internal war, a senior official said. But he said in the post-war environment demand for aviation will grow. “Aviation is very sensitive to war and also very […]
Sri Lanka has permitted IMF to publish bailout program: minister
July 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has authorized the International Monetary Fund to publish its stand by loan agreement with the island, after it is approved by the lender’s executive board Friday, international trade minister Gamini Pieris said.Under the new stand by arrangement Sri Lanka’s central bank will have access to 2.5 billion US […]
Sri Lanka may get US$300mn from new ADB fund: report
July 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may get a 300 million US dollar loan from Asian Development Bank new facility to help stimulate slumping economies in the region, a media report said. A 30-year internal conflict ended after the military wiped out Tamil Tiger separatists in May. “Sri Lanka is in an extremely favorable […]
Sri Lanka IMF loan slammed by rights body
July 23, 2009 (AFP) – Human rights campaigners on Thursday described a 2.5 billion dollar loan to Sri Lanka by the International Monetary Fund as “a reward for bad behavior”.Human Rights Watch said the IMF should have set conditions on the loan, including demands that the Sri Lankan government help re-settle nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians […]