Category:
Arrest
Feb 02, 2014 (LBO) – A suspect had been arrested over the murder of Mel Gunasekera, a senior financial journalist in Sri Lanka who was current working at Fitch, an international ratings agency.Before joining Fitch Ratings, Gunasekera was at the French News Agency AFP. She was the founder editor of Lanka Business Online and was […]
Tragedy
COLOMBO, February 2, 2014 (AFP) – Former Agence France-Presse journalist Mel Gunasekera was stabbed to death on Sunday after a break-in at her family’s home in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, police said.The body of Gunasekera, who had been working for the international ratings agency Fitch, was discovered by her parents at their house in […]
Crime
Feb 02, 2014 (LBO) – Mel Gunasekera, a senior Sri Lankan financial journalist and founder editor of Lanka Business Online, was found murdered at her house Sunday, police said.Investigators were working with a bloodstained fingerprint and close-circuit-television-footage, police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said. She was alone in the house, in Battaramulla, while her parents and […]
Mel Gunasekera – an eulogy
Feb 02, 2014 (LBO) – On the morning of the first Sunday of February 2014 I felt as though the ground I stood on suddenly disappeared. I learned from a tweet that my friend and leading economic journalist Mel Gunasekera had been murdered in her home.How could this happen? She was in the prime of […]
Sri Lanka rejects US criticism over rights, democracy
COLOMBO, February 2, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Sunday rejected “patently unfair” allegations by the United States that its rights record had deteriorated in the five years since the end of a bloody separatist war.Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris said remarks by Nisha Biswal, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, […]
Rights, democracy under threat in Sri Lanka: US envoy
COLOMBO, February 1, 2014 (AFP) – Democracy is under threat in Sri Lanka and its rights record has deteriorated in the five years since the end of a bloody ethnic war, a top US envoy said Saturday.Nisha Biswal, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, said Colombo had failed to ensure reconciliation, justice […]
Consolidation
Jan 31, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s banks and non-bank firm consolidation was progressing with meeting with individual firms with the regulator with preliminary plans expected to be submitted by March 31. In addition, the Central Bank requested all banks, NBFIs and others who are involved in the process to continue a close dialogue with […]
Sri Lanka stocks close up 0.3-pct
Jan 31, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks close higher Friday with healthcare and beverage firms gaining amid improved US growth numbers, brokers said. The Colombo benchmark All Share Price Index closed 20.82 points higher at 6,248.08, up 0.33 percent. The S&P SL20 closed 1.62 points lower at 3,442.94, down 0.05 percent. Turnover was 1.33 […]
Capital Raising
Jan 31, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Commercial Credit and Finance Plc said it planned to raise 1.6 billion rupees from a US registered company.Creation Investments Sri Lanka LLC, a Delware, USA, registered firm will initially buy 40 million shares at 21 rupees each for 1,008 million rupees, the firm said in a stock exchange […]
Tata Nano, other Indian small cars fail crash tests: safety body
NEW DELHI, January 31, 2014 (AFP) – The Tata Nano, billed as the world’s cheapest car, and a host of other top-selling small models from India have failed their first independent crash tests, a global safety group said Friday. The five entry-level vehicles — including the country’s best-selling small car the Suzuki-Maruti Alto 800, as […]
Sri Lanka JKH unit gets Air France-KLM agency
Jan 31, 2014 (LBO) – Mack Air (Pvt) Ltd, a unit of Sri Lanka’s John Keells Holdings said it will be the general sales agent for Air France – KLM in the island from February 2014.The agency for the Netherlands-based KLM was held by Sri Lanka’s Carson Cumberbatch for 50 years, dating back from before […]
Sri Lanka probes China coal plant for defective materials, design
Jan 31, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is probing a Chinese built coal plant for possible material, design or construction defects, following leaks in a steam cooling unit, officials said. Power minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said she had informed Chinese embassy officials at a meeting in Colombo that the builders had to bear responsibility for the […]