Category:
It™s a Wrap
July 6, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has slapped a controversial tax on foreign commercials, Hollywood and Bollywood blockbusters, dramas and sitcoms from July 1, with funds collected ploughed back to develop the local film industry. The taxes range from 90,000 rupees for a 30 minute dubbed episode to a million rupees for each foreign […]
Deep Cut
July 6, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s biggest mobile-phone operator Dialog Telekom Thursday slashed outgoing call charges by as much as 50 percent as the firm stepped up its expansion drive in the country. Call charges within the network from 11.00 pm to 6.00 am will go down by 50 percent to 2.00 rupees, while […]
Warming Up
July 6, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to issue spectrum for third generation or next generation mobile technology to cellular phone operators next week, the telecom watchdog said Thursday. Priced at 5-million dollars, third generation or 3G licenses allow operators to offer higher speed wireless services on the 2GHz (gigahertz band). “All four existing […]
Tiger supremo pays homage to 273 suicide bombers
July 6, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s elusive Tamil Tiger supremo has paid tribute to 273 suicide bombers known as Black Tigers who have carried out devastating attacks in the past 19 years, the guerrillas said Thursday. Six photographs were released of Velupillai Prabhakaran, 51, meeting with his current band of suicide bombers and lighting […]
Strangers in their own land, Tamil refugees in limbo amid rising violence
MALLAVI, Sri Lanka, July 6, 2006 (AFP) – Former vegetable vendor Dharmaselan lost his leg and arm in an aerial bombing over strife-torn northern Sri Lanka several years ago.But he says government soldiers did not believe him when they began harassing him again earlier this year as violence escalated in the region. “The army kept […]
Sri Lanka’s Mercantile Investments mulls subsidiary to hold leisure business
July 5, 2006 (LBO) — Finance company Mercantile Investments Ltd, plans to float a fully-owned subsidiary to hold their leisure investments, a credit rating report said.George Ondaatjie family, which controls 56 percent of Mercantile Investments, currently owns these investments as associate companies. Mercantile Investments has three associate companies catering to the tourism segment: Royal Palms […]
Sri Lankan rupee ends tad higher; Colombo share prices gain
July 5, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lankan rupee gained marginally, while shares prices in Colombo finished up Wednesday, as the government stepped up security amid fears of more bombings, dealers said.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam today observe “Black Tiger Day” to honour 261 suicide bombers who have carried out attacks since their first strike […]
‘s Mercantile Investments mulls subsidiary to hold leisure business
July 5, 2006 (LBO) — Finance company Mercantile Investments Ltd, plans to float a fully-owned subsidiary to hold their leisure investments, a credit rating report said.George Ondaatjie family, which controls 56 percent of Mercantile Investments, currently owns these investments as associate companies. Mercantile Investments has three associate companies catering to the tourism segment: Royal Palms […]
Horror Movie
The government has finalised tax rates for imported movies, dramas, sitcoms and commercials, with a formal announcement expected on Thursday. Rates are likely to be 75, 000 rupees (750 dollars) for a 30 minute block that is not dubbed, going up to 90,000 rupees (900 dollars) for a dubbed half hour block. The Teledrama, Film […]
No military solution in Sri Lanka: outgoing US ambassador
July 5, 2006 (AFP) – There is no military solution to Sri Lanka’s separatist conflict, outgoing US Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead said, as daily bloodshed has raised fears of renewed war.Lunstead, who is leaving the country after three years, also said in a statement released Wednesday that a solution to Sri Lanka’s civil strife would require […]
Sri Lanka to study foreign devolution models to end fighting
July 5, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will study devolution models across the world before developing a power-sharing mechanism with Tamil Tiger rebels to end separatist violence, a senior minister said Wednesday. Rajapakse’s ruling party received crucial support from political hardliners, but has since angered his backers with his offers of talks with the LTTE […]
Violent death key to Tamil Tiger struggle
KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka, July 5, 2006 (AFP) – A tangle of fairy lights — reds, blues and greens — blink merrily around the photos of stern-faced Tamil Tiger cadre, staring grimly out into the world. These are the Tigers’ “martyrs”, young men and women, some of whom have blown themselves up, starved to death in […]