Category: Other
Pilatus to sign record aircraft deal with India: report
GENEVA, June 18, 2011 (AFP) – Switzerland’s Pilatus Aircraft is about to sign a record deal to supply 75 of its successful PC-7 trainers to the Indian Air Force for 850 million francs ( billion), a press report said Saturday. The daily Le Temps, which described the contract as the biggest in the company’s history, […]
Rule Making
June 18, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s securities regulator has finalized rules to allow exchange traded funds (ETFs) with Indian help, and the final document is expected to be given legal effect within two months, an official said. “Within the next two months, regulations to enable ETFs to be traded in the Colombo Stock Exchange […]
Three baby elephants killed by Sri Lankan train
June 18, 2011 (AFP) – Three baby elephants were killed when they were hit by a passenger train in Sri Lanka on Saturday, an official said. The trio were crossing the tracks in a forested area near Ambanpola, 93 miles (150 kilometres) north of Colombo, when they were struck by a passenger train bound for […]
India hikes interest rates by 25 basis points
MUMBAI, June 16, 2011 (AFP) – India’s central bank on Thursday raised its key short-term interest rates by 25 basis points — its 10th hike in 16 months — in a bid to tame high inflation stuck at “uncomfortable levels.” The Reserve Bank of India raised its repo rate — at which it lends to […]
Sri Lanka poultry firm to build Rs360mn broiler farm
June 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Bairaha Farms, a poultry firm said it is building a 360 million rupee modern broiler farm in the northwestern Puttalam district to increase its production by 15 percent over the next three years. In 2010 prices surged. “Being of a cyclical nature, the poultry business is characterised by […]
Film Reaction
COLOMBO, June 15, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Wednesday denied it targeted civilians while crushing Tamil Tiger rebels but said action would be taken if war crimes allegations contained in a new British documentary were true. The Sri Lankan High Commission in London said images shown on Channel 4 on Tuesday night had not […]
Human Smuggling
OTTAWA, June 14, 2011 (AFP) – Canadian police arrested Tuesday four Sri Lankan nationals accused of being behind a 2009 operation that illegally brought 76 Tamils from war-torn Sri Lanka to Canada on a rickety freighter. All 76, including the four people arrested, requested asylum when they arrived off the coast of British Columbia in […]
UK Call
LONDON, June 14, 2011 (AFP) – Britain on Wednesday said “horrific” footage contained within a film documenting the final weeks of Sri Lanka’s civil war constituted “convincing evidence” of war crimes. The Channel 4 documentary, which aired on British television on Tuesday, contained footage of what it said were prisoner executions. It also showed the […]
Sri Lanka earns Rs22.1bn from food taxes: report
June 12, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has earned 22. 1 billion rupees from taxes imposed on several basic foods imported in to country in 2009, with sugar and milk powder bringing in the most amount of money, a media report said. The Island newspaper said the information was tabled in parliament in response to […]
‘ Concern
June 11, 2011 (LBO) – Friday Forum, a Sri Lankans citizen’s group has expressed concern about a recent controversial training scheme for undergraduates, conducted the by the military, where relief was sought also from the country’s highest court. “The decision in the Supreme Court dismissing, without stating reasons, all the petitions against the programme, has […]
Pension Fracas
June 11, 2011 (LBO) – The International Monetary Fund had “nothing to do” with a controversial ‘pension’ plan for Sri Lanka’s private sector workers involving a third forced savings scheme, an official said. Rulers, a handful of their close associates can get a pension after only five years in office under a law passed by […]
Sri Lanka Haycarb calls for coconut plantations strategy
June 10, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Haycarb has called for a long-term strategy to expand coconut plantations to ensure raw material availability to make activated carbon and said it is diversifying into wood- and coal-based carbons. Shortages of coconut shell charcoal, which account for almost 65 percent of the firm’s cost of production, and […]