Author: lbostgadmin
Tight Margins
Aug 20, 20078 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank’s net profits for the quarter ended June 2008 has fallen 32-pct to 309.6 million rupees on tighter margins, interim accounts filed with the Colombo Stock Exchange showed. Total deposits were up 3.85 percent to 117.6 billion rupees. Group assets grew 3.3 percent to 162.4 billion rupees […]
Free Tests
Aug 20, 2008 (LBO) – Brown & Company and its associate Klevenberg have launched a campaign to conduct free mobile emission tests on vehicles in parts of Sri Lanka, the company said in a statement. Klevenberg is the sole agent for Lucas batteries in Sri Lanka. It is also the sole agent for brands such […]
Casualty
Aug 20, 2008 (LBO) – A cargo vessel owned by Sri Lanka’s Vallibel group sank off the Bangladeshi port of Chittagong Wednesday after colliding with a tanker, shipping and company officials said. The Vallibel group of businessman Dhammika Perera owns a few merchant ships. The crew of Sri Lankan and Burmese was rescued, they said, […]
Oil falls to 112 dollars
SINGAPORE, August 19, 2008 (AFP) – World oil prices fell further on Tuesday, dragged down by worries that weaker US oil demand could spread to Europe and Japan, analysts said.New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, dropped 48 cents to 112.39 dollars a barrel. That came on top of a 90-cent drop […]
Athens gold medal winner Halkia formally expelled
BEIJING, August 19, 2008 (AFP) – Greek runner Fani Halkia has been formally expelled from the Olympics after testing positive for a banned substance, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Tuesday. The 29-year-old, who won gold in the women’s 400m hurdles at the Athens Olympics, failed the test while in Japan this month preparing for […]
BHP Billiton posts record 15.4-billion-dollar profit
LONDON, August 19, 2008 (AFP) – The world’s biggest miner BHP Billiton announced record annual net profits of 15.39 billion US dollars (10.46 billion euros), driven by soaring commodity prices and strong Asian demand. The Anglo-Australian resources giant, which was particularly boosted by higher earnings from petroleum and iron ore, beat last year’s net profit […]
Sri Lankan power users seen as too content with poor service
Aug 19, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan electricity consumers are far too complacent about the poor service provided by the state power utility, an energy expert said.There was also greater need to have a new focus on energy efficiency. “Almost all industries and commercial buildings definitely have potential to save at least five percent through […]
Sri Lanka pilots among first to fly Airbus A380: Emirates
Aug 19, 2008 (LBO) – Dubai-based Emirates said two of its pilots from Sri Lanka were among the first to fly the new Airbus A380 super jumbo aircraft. Suren Ratwatte has flown the prototype aircraft registered as F-WWDD out of Airbus Industries home airfield in Toulouse France on June 18, while Suhail Hashim flew the […]
Sri Lanka Tamil Tiger terror funds network bared in Canada probe
Aug 19, 2008 (LBO) – An investigation by Canadian police has revealed details of a Tamil Tiger fund raising and money laundering network in which the group raised more than three million dollars to buy weapons.According to a report in Canada’s National Post newspaper, the Toronto-based World Tamil Movement (WTM) has been accused of bankrolling […]
Sri Lanka Tamil Tigers tacitly admit losing ground to govt
August 19, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels Tuesday tacitly admitted that they were losing ground in the face of a major military offensive by warning that thousands of civilians in the north were at risk.In their first public acknowledgement that government forces were moving deeper into areas previously held by them, the […]
Pakistan coalition to meet on new president: spokesman
ISLAMABAD, August 19, 2008 (AFP) – Leaders of Pakistan’s ruling coalition were to meet later Tuesday to discuss a replacement for President Pervez Musharraf and the fate of dozens of deposed judges, a party spokesman said. The meeting comes a day after key US ally Musharraf resigned in the face of impeachment charges, nine years […]
Expensive Dentists
Aug 19, 2008 (LBO) – The cost of producing a dentist in Sri Lanka is 60 percent higher than that of producing a medical doctor, while a veterinarian costs 30 percent more, government data showed.Sri Lanka’s university system, which is funded by taxes from the people, spent 1.3 million on producing a doctor, 1.6 million […]