Sri Lanka in push for German visitors

June 05, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is hosting a workshop and familiarization tour for more than 100 German travel agents in a bid to lure more visitors, the island’s tourist promotion office said. The program will increase awareness about the Sri Lanka among German travel agents and motivate them to sell and promote the […]

Sri Lanka tea prices seen recovering

June 05, 2008 (2008) Sri Lankan tea prices appear to have bottomed out with widespread demand returning to the Colombo auctions which have been enjoying a strong market this year, brokers said. “There was improved wide spread demand,” Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers said in a report on this week’s auction. “For the second consecutive […]

Helping Move

June 05, 2008 (LBO) – Only two percent of the public buildings in Sri Lanka have easy access to the disabled, CEAT Tyres which is backing an organization that is campaigning to improving access to public buildings by the disabled, has said. “For numerous reasons, disability in both visible and invisible forms is on the […]

Health Strategy

June 05, 2008 (LBO) – The Lanka Hospitals Corporation, which own’s Colombo’s Apollo Hospital, said it is targeting medical tourism in a big way, along with cosmetic surgery, and hopes to turn profitable in the next financial year. The hospital, whose ownership changed in October 2006 with tycoon Harry Jayewardena buying a controlling stake, said […]

June 05, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan and international media right groups Thursday said they were outraged by recent military criticism of journalists covering the war and urged the government to stop what they called its ‘hate campaign’. The Free Media Movement (FMM) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to which it is affiliated […]

Sri Lanka Janashakthi IPO braves slow market

June 05, 2008 (LBO) – The initial public offer of Janashakthi Insurance that is opening this month, the first in two years in the island, is a bold move that could enliven an otherwise slow market, company officials said. “We have taken a bold step in coming forward at this time,” Janashakthi Insurance managing director […]

Australian PM wants EU-style regional group for Asia-Pacific

SYDNEY, June 5, 2008 (AFP) – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called on Asia-Pacific countries Thursday to form a European Union-style grouping that he said would enhance regional security and prosperity.Rudd said an Asia-Pacific Community — a potential economic powerhouse including China, India, the United States and Japan — could be established by 2020. “The […]

Piracy on the rise, but terrorism link not seen: study

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2008 (AFP) – Incidents of piracy have spiked across the world since 2000 but there is no evidence to support fears of extremist groups linking up with pirates for their operations, a new study finds.It attributed the rise to the expansion of the global sea trade, congested chokepoints, corrupt officials, shifting spending […]

Oil Block

June 5, 2008 (LBO) – Cairn India Limited, a unit of Cairn Energy plc of the UK, has won an offshore exploration block in Sri Lanka’s Mannar basin beating two other players, the island’s petroleum minister A H M Fowzie said. The firm has made more than 30 oil and gas discoveries in India during […]

” 9.6-pct in May

June 05, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said its ‘core inflation’ index from which a number of items such as food had been dropped was 9.6 percent in May 2008 against ‘headline’ inflation of 26.2 percent. In May the ‘core’ index had grown 0.3 percent against 0.9 percent in April. The moving average […]

Sri Lanka stocks drop 1.14 pct on earnings fears

June 4, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks shed over one percent Wednesday with investors taking profits with corporate earnings are seen under pressure from high inflation and interest rates, analysts said. The All Share Price Index (ASPI) closed 1.14 percent (28.75 points) lower at 2,491.68 points while the Milanka Index shed 1.77 percent (53.79 […]

Sri Lanka blast damaged hotel gets state help

June 04, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourist promotion office had given a million rupees to re-build an old tourist hotel that was damaged in a Tamil Tiger bomb blast, the ministry of tourism said. The board of directors of Sri Lanka’s tourism promotion bureau had recently approved the request to help Hotel Nippon, the […]

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