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Sri Lanka tea factories cut energy costs
Dec 16, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea factories are cutting energy costs under an initiative to make them more competitive in overseas markets given the island’s high cost of electricity, industry officials said.Furthermore, a lot of the machinery in tea factories is old and not energy efficient, officials said.Tea was the first sector selected […]
Debt Refinance
Dec 16, 2009 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka said it has assigned an ‘A-(lka)’ National Long-term rating to the Sri Lanka unit of Singer’s proposed 600 million rupees senior unsecured debenture issue. At the same time, the rating agency has confirmed the ratings on Singer’s outstanding senior unsecured notes at ‘A-(lka)’ with a stable outlook. […]
Indicted
NEW YORK, December 15, 2009 (AFP) – The founder of Galleon hedge fund, Raj Rajaratnam, was indicted Tuesday in a multi-million-dollar Wall Street insider-trading probe.Billionaire Rajaratnam and co-defendant Danielle Chiesi were indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on charges of using non-public information from company executives to earn about 20 million dollars […]
Fibre Net
Dec 16, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom, Dialog Telekom, India’s Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Sweden’s Ericsson, are among the firms in the running to get a fibre optic backbone for the island, an official said.“We are hoping to award the deal by April 2010,” director general of Sri Lanka’s Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) […]
‘s Bharti to buy Bangladesh mobile operator: regulator
DHAKA, December 16, 2009 (AFP) – Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel is seeking to buy Bangladesh’s fourth-largest mobile phone operator Warid from its Abu Dhabi-based owners, regulators said Wednesday.The Dhabi Group, which fully owns Warid Telecom, has sought approval from the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission for the sale of a 70 percent stake in the […]
EU gives six million euros to help Sri Lanka refugees
BRUSSELS, December 16, 2009 (AFP) – The European Commission on Wednesday granted more aid for tens of thousands of people who fled fighting between Sri Lankan forces and Tamil fighters, voicing concern for their lack of protection.The commission is “concerned by the lack of protection for the internally displaced, especially for female-headed households and single […]
Sri Lanka must upgrade accounting rules: experts
Dec 15, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will have to keep pace with global accounting standards to attract foreign investments as competing regional economies like China adopt better book keeping rules and reduce risk premiums, senior auditors said. “Now premiums are coming down. China has to compete with the rest of the world for capital, […]
Sri Lankan stocks close 1.22-pct up on large JKH sale
Dec 15, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares closed up Tuesday as big off-the-floor deals on blue chip John Keells Holdings (JKH) and Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings pushed indices up, brokers said. Amaya Leisure closed at 52.00 rupees, up 1.25, Asian Hotels and Properties closed at 84.50 rupees, up 75 cents, John Keells Hotels closed […]
Capital Question
Dec 15, 2009 (LBO) – Capital investment in Sri Lanka’s telecom infrastructure has plummeted amidst a price war and high taxation, which will crimp expansion in the future and broadband roll out in the island, top telecom operators said.“Before the price war each operator was spending about 150 to 200 million (US dollars) a year […]
‘s green fightback
KAVRE, December 15, 2009 (AFP) – Thirty years ago, Nepalese farmer Badri Prasad Jangam realised that the once thickly-wooded hillside that overlooks his home had been transformed into a barren slope.Decades of deforestation had taken their toll, stripping away the topsoil, affecting vital underground water sources and threatening to bring disaster to a community entirely […]
India stop Sri Lanka in high-scoring thriller
RAJKOT, December 15, 2009 (AFP) – India overcame a brilliant century by Tillakaratne Dilshan to defeat Sri Lanka by three runs in a dramatic start to the five-match one-day series on Tuesday. Dilshan made 160 off 124 balls as the tourists made a spirited effort to surpass India’s highest one-day total of 414-7, before falling […]
Sri Lanka post-war recovery hit by graft, violence: watchdog
December 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s recovery from its decades-long civil war has been marred by graft, violence and a culture of lawlessness, a global watchdog said Tuesday.Transparency International rapped the government — which crushed the Tamil Tiger separatist rebels in May — for a lack of democracy, accountability and transparency. “The latter half […]