Category: Other
Indian pilot strike enters third day, flights hit
NEW DELHI, September 28, 2009 (AFP) – Debt-ridden Air India cancelled around 40 flights on Monday as management and striking pilots of the state-run carrier met to negotiate an end to three days of stoppages over a slash in bonuses.But senior pilots’ representative V.K. Bhalla told the Press Trust of India news agency that talks […]
US Lesson
September 27, 2009 (AFP) – The Sri Lankan government said on Sunday it would study the United States’ treatment of suspected Islamic militants to learn how to deal with thousands of alleged former Tamil Tiger rebels. Sri Lanka’s attorney general Mohan Peiris was set to arrive in Washington on Monday for talks with his US […]
Air India flights disrupted as pilots protest pay cuts
NEW DELHI, September 26, 2009 (AFP) – State-owned Air India said several flights were disrupted Saturday after some senior pilots reported sick in protest at a decision by the airline to slash productivity bonuses.The protest by the non-unionised executive pilots, classified as airline management, comes as India’s biggest religious festival season of the year gets […]
Sri Lanka tea prices up again on supply shortfall
Sept 25, 2009 (LBO) – Prices of Sri Lanka’s high grown teas made by plantation firms rose again at the Colombo auctions this week owing to supply shortages, brokers said. The local crop has been affected by drought earlier this year followed by recent labour union action that disrupted production and transport of made tea […]
Sri Lanka August tea output down 5.3-pct
Sept 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s production of black tea in August 2009 fell 5.3 percent to 23.9 million kilos from a year ago, with the shortfall coming from the high and mid-grown elevations, according to the Sri Lanka Tea Board. But production of low grown teas, which make up the bulk of the […]
Coming Back
Sept 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has allowed the island’s former Treasury Secretary to return to public service from which he was ousted by court, lawyers said.In 2008 a three judge bench headed by former Chief Justice Sarath Silva faulted Jayasundara over the privatization of a ship fuel or bunkering monopoly.Former Treasury […]
Chevron makes major new gas find in Bangladesh: govt
DHAKA, September 23, 2009 (AFP) – US energy group Chevron has made the biggest gas discovery in at least a decade in energy-starved Bangladesh, almost doubling the size of a field it is drilling there, a government official said Wednesday.The US firm has told authorities its Bibiyana gas field in Sylhet, northeastern Bangladesh, contains 6.6 […]
Watchdog Action
Sept 23, 2009 (LBO) – The Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) has filed charges against two senior executives of Singalanka Standard Chemicals for falsifying accounts and forging auditors’ signatures.They had committed an offence under section 51(1) (b) of the Securities and Exchange Commission Act, the statement said.Singalanka Standard Chemicals said in a […]
Bharti sweetens offer for MTN deal: report
NEW DELHI, September 22, 2009 (AFP) – India’s top mobile firm Bharti Airtel has offered a range of new concessions to South Africa’s MTN in order to seal a tie-up, a report said Tuesday.“Bharti Airtel is making a slew of last-minute concessions to sew up a deal with MTN as it awaits a political push […]
Regulatory hitches threaten Bharti-MTN deal: reports
NEW DELHI, September 21, 2009 (AFP) – India’s top mobile firm Bharti Airtel and South African cellular flagship MTN are ready to sign a tie-up deal but regulatory issues could stymie a final agreement, reports said Monday. “The deal is all set, agreed and legally ready to be signed,” the Business Standard newspaper quoted an […]
Sri Lanka plantations demand delayed tax refunds as wages rise
Sept 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations industry is demanding that the government settle long-delayed tax refunds to help bear the cost of a wage hike estimated at an extra six billion rupees a year.Damitha Perera, chairman of the Planters’ Association, which represents the industry, said repayment of value-added tax refunds and disbursement of […]
Sri Lanka thieves hot on spices
Sept 18, 2009 (LBO) – Theft of spices from Sri Lankan gardens is a serious problem that could kill the trade, the new head of the island’s spice traders association has said. The global demand for spices will continue to increase because of growing awareness that consumption of spices contribute to good health, he said. […]