Category:
Cutting Flab
Aug 31, 2010 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority plans to shed staff with a voluntary retirement scheme and change worker attitudes to ensure a better service, its chairman Priyath Wickrama said. “Within five years we will convert this to a better port, with better attitudes. ” “We plan to release 4,000 employees by […]
Offshore Focus
Aug 31, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Colombo Dockyard has delivered the second of a series of four Multipurpose Platform Supply Vessels (MPSV) for Singapore’s Greatship Global Offshore Services, a statement said. Colombo Dockyard has said it will deliver a total six vessels this year and will focus more on offshore work with the search […]
Credit Lift
Aug 31, 2010 (LBO) – The outlook on Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank’s ‘AA-(lka)’ ratinghs been lifted to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’ on improving risk management ahead of other banks, Fitch Ratings has said. Its subordinated debenture rating (one notch lower) reflected the relatively lower recovery prospects for investors of this instrument compared to the bank’s senior […]
Ordeal
KUALA LUMPUR, August 31, 2010 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan tourist died fleeing kidnappers in Malaysia while a friend escaped and another was rescued by police, the force said Tuesday. “As I was heading to the toilet, I turned around and kicked the kidnapper before running out of the flat. I ran up to the […]
Telecom Bonds
Aug 31, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) has commissioned a fibre optic cable linking the former war zone in the northern Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the country, offering high-speed communications, a statement said. The “information superhighway” to the north has been built alongside the A9 main route to Jaffna, where information […]
India BlackBerry users relieved as shutdown averted
NEW DELHI, August 31, 2010 (AFP) – India’s BlackBerry users heaved a sigh of relief Tuesday after the government gave the company a two-month reprieve on a threat to ban its messaging services, averting a showdown over security access. Research in Motion (RIM), the smartphone’s maker, has made “certain proposals for lawful access” to heavily […]
Germany charges suspected Tamil Tigers
BERLIN, August 31, 2010 (AFP) – German prosecutors said Tuesday they had charged three men suspected of fundraising and buying weapons for the Sri Lankan separatist group the Tamil Tigers. Sri Lankan national Vijikanendra V. S., 35, and German nationals Sasitharan M. , 33, and Koneswaran T., 39, were charged with belonging to a banned […]
Sri Lanka supreme court takes up constitutional changes
August 31, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Tuesday began assessing a draft bill that would amend the island’s constitution to allow President Mahinda Rajapakse to run for office for a third term. Registrar of the Supreme Court said the five-judge bench would give their decision to the president and speaker of parliament […]
Sri Lanka inflation at 5.0-pct in August
Aug 31, 2010 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo rose 5. 0 percent in August 2010 from a year earlier, up from 4. 3 percent in July, the government’s statistics office said. The Colombo Consumer Price index increased 0. 5 percent during the month, against no growth in the month of July. […]
Sri Lanka Treasury chief backs free trade
Aug 31, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance secretary, a key policy maker in the current administration has backed freer trade which can improve people’s liberties and propel the country on a higher growth path. Sri Lanka has seen flourishing free trade from during the times of ancient kings. Jayasundera said the country was looking […]
Sri Lanka stocks fall 0.6-pct
Aug 30, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks closed 0. 6 percent lower Monday amid retain and high net worth investor profit taking, brokers said. The benchmark Colombo All Share Index closed 33. 3 points lower at points at 5,600.77 and the Milanka Index of liquid stocks fell 35. 24 at 5,861.87 points. Aitken Spence […]
Terminal Award
Aug 30, 2010 (LBO) – A concession to build and operate a 450 million US dollar container terminal in an expanded port in Colombo port has been awarded to Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence and China Merchants Holdings, an official said. CHEC and China Merchant come under the same arm of the Chinese government, industry analysts […]