BANGKOK (IRIN): Even though public health experts recognise how deadly asbestos can be, its use is on the rise in the construction industry throughout Asia, according to the US Geological Survey. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates some 107,000 workers die annually from asbestos-related diseases, out of 125 million people who encounter it in the ...

Arab News: RIYADH: Saudi businessmen have evinced immense interest in attending the upcoming the Sri Lanka Expo 2012 scheduled from 28 to 30 March in Colombo, Sri Lankan Embassy’s Commercial Counselor Anil Sirimanna said. The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) has organised the three-day event being held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall ...

24 nations vote in favour, 15 against, whilst eight abstain Govt. told to implement LLRC suggestions GENEVA (Reuters): Sri Lanka should ensure Government troops who committed war crimes during the final stages of its war against Tamil rebels are brought to justice, the UN Human Rights Council said on Thursday. Despite heavy lobbying by a ...

Reuters: A counteroffensive of sorts may be underway this year in what has seemed like a one-sided “global currency war” as developing economies slow, western money-printing pauses and the heat comes out of pumped-up emerging market currencies. The three-year-old “war”, as Brazil dubs the devaluationist policies of developed nations seeking relief from home-grown credit cru...

JAKARTA (Reuters): The Datsun brand will return to Nissan and the top priority for it will be increasing sales growth in Indonesia, India and Russia, Nis-san Motor CEO Carlos Ghosn told reporters in Indonesia during a visit on Tue-sday. He said Nissan plans $400 million in investment

With the phenomenal international growth of Pre-Paid Cards, Mobile Payments and e-Wallets, MTI Consulting has initiated an alliance with UK based Polymath Consulting. As part of this alliance, the CEO Polymath Consulting David Parker will be in Sri Lanka for a Thought Leadership Seminar on 18 April from 5.30p.m. to 8p.m. David Parker is the ...

Reuters: Franklin Templeton funds that focus on developing economies are heavily invested in energy stocks as the firm believes oil prices have room to increase further, the head of its emerging markets group Mark Mobius said on Tuesday.  “If you look at inflation and the oil price over the long term, you’ll find that the ...

Flexiprint (Pvt) Ltd, a specialised printer in Flexography printing tea bag tags and envelopes proved its supremacy in quality of Flexo printing by winning the bronze award at the Asian Flexo-Gravure-Label Awards held in Bangkok recently. Flexiprint is a dedicated catalyst to the Tea bag industry serving 58% of the tea bagging companies in Sri ...

Can clothes, fashion accessories and makeup make a country look democratic?Dictators have begun to dress up their autocratic regimes in the manner of democracies with all the mod cons that help to pass off a system of government, which is for all purposes a dictatorship, as a five-star democracy. This in the manner that a ...

Loss-making State-owned enterprises are nothing new in Sri Lanka. One of the better known ones is SriLankan Airlines, which was given to Emirates due to its inability to breakeven but was retaken by the present Government. Pros and cons of this move is history but cash-strapped and a midst losses, it appears that the Government ...

Today is 19 March 2012. The day and the month of March are significant in the lives of many people – some celebrating birthdays, some wedding anniversaries, while others nurse what is yet left over from the hangover of the three day drawn encounter that we experienced a week ago or the limited over Royal ...

Anticipating four days of music in 16 locations from 17 countries and 100 artistesBy Cheranka Mendis Aspiring to be listed on the World Calendar of Events, preparations for Senses and Soul- Colombo Music Festival is on course and plans are falling in to place as expected, Founder and Event Director of the Festival Haadia Galely ...

By Cheranka Mendis Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals rose 27% to 83,549 in February from a year earlier, continuing the growth momentum established in 2010. Data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority yesterday showed arrivals topping 169,423 during the first two months of the year, a 21% increase from the period a year ago. ...

With just 12 days to go, Sri Lanka’s largest mega trade, investment and tourism promotion initiative ‘Expo 2012’ has attracted close to 1,200 people, exceeding the expected 1,000 mark, EDB Chairman Janaka Ratnayake said yesterday. Speaking to the Daily FT, he asserted that the number of participants had increased by 500 from last week, when ...

Head of the Sri Lankan delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva, Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe is to return to Geneva to attend the sessions on Wednesday (14). Minister Samarasinghe is to head another team of Sri Lankan delegates to the UNHRC sessions. The main aim of the delegation would be ...

GENEVA (Reuters): International filings for patent protection, a key indicator of technological innovation in major economies, hit an all-time record last year driven by growth in China and other middle- income countries, a United Nations agency said last week. The World Intellectual Property Organisation, which administers the global patent pact, reported that 2011 saw a ...

With the country abuzz with the contentious US resolution on Sri Lanka at the ongoing UNHRC sessions Asia Wealth Management Research team has come up with a brief analysis of the move’s impact if any. Here are excerpts from Asia Wealth’s analysis: The US proposed resolution on Sri Lanka in the current session of the ...

Geneva: The United States Wednesday submitted the draft resolution against Sri Lanka to the United Nations Human Rights Council at its 19th session in Geneva. The draft resolution submitted to the UN body notes the report of Sri Lanka’s domestic Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and its findings and recommendations while acknowledging its possible ...

Thousands of women in the apparel industry deserve respect for being partners in Sri Lanka’s highest foreign exchange earning sector By Uditha Jayasinghe Sri Lanka’s apparel industry clothes the world and earns the largest amount of foreign exchange but is struggling to retain its workforce as an estimated 30,000 vacancies remain open in hundreds of ...

Reuters: Global private sector activity grew at its fastest pace in a year last month as a strong improvement in the United States offset a drag from the euro zone, survey data showed on Monday. The Global Total Output index, produced by JPMorgan with the input of research and supply management organisations, was 55.5 in ...

OIL seems to have returned to the headlines as reports indicate that India may be pressurising Sri Lanka to allocate it blocks in the Mannar Basin. An article in The Hindu remarks that India is persuading Sri Lanka to allocate oil exploration blocks in the waters that separate them, as it considers the location too ...

Reuters: Vladimir Putin triumphed in Russia’s presidential election on Sunday and, tears rolling down his cheeks, called his victory a turning point that had prevented the country falling into the hands of enemies.  Putin’s opponents complained of widespread fraud, refused

Geneva: The United States says the report of the Lessons Learnt and reconciliation Commission (LLRC) Sri Lanka’s domestic body that probed the country’s armed conflict does not adequately address the issue of accountability. Addressing the 15th meeting of the 19th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva yestedray, the US delegate ...

In June 2007, the US and the Republic of Korea signed a Free Trade Agreement (KORUSFTA). In December 2010, they concluded new agreements reflected in letters signed in December 2011, providing market access to US auto manufacturers and workers. Once the agreement comes into force on 15 March 2012, nearly 95% of bilateral trade in ...

The first Government University of Australia that has set up in the country, the Ballarat University, staged an interesting evening last week under the banner ‘The Ballarat Debate,’ to a select club of professionals at the City Campus that discussed some interesting ideas on Sri Lanka’s economy. One of Sri Lanka’s award-winning marketers and former ...

Benito Mussolini, the fascist ruler of Italy, during World War II, said that his brand of fascism ‘should be more appropriately called Corporatism, because it is a merger of state and corporate power’. Compare this with the dictionary definition of capitalism: ‘A system in which a country’s business and industry are controlled and run for ...

Reuters: Global trade rules for finance, telecommunications and other service sectors have failed to keep pace with changes in technology and are “modest and flimsy” compared with trade rules for manufactured goods, said a report released on Friday. “Services trade policy reform can be both a basis for long-term growth and a way to bolster ...

At a time when some major global apparel buyers are shifting their sourcing to low-cost countries like Cambodia, Bangladesh and Vietnam, Sri Lankan garment manufacturers are not only able to retain their current buyers but have also succeeded in luring new buyers. In fact, the Sri Lankan apparel industry has crossed its US$ 4 billion ...

The United States  has said it expected the Sri Lankan government to announce a detailed action plan to address the reconciliation and accountability issues when the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission was released but to date it has not seen any plan from the government on how the recommendations made by the ...

Popularly known as the father of insurance in Sri Lanka, Chandra Schaffter is a multi-dimensional person with disarming humility and an outspoken view of life. His 60-odd years in the profession has defined the entire industry and the outspoken risk-taking dynamism of Schaffter in many ways epitomises the home grown entrepreneurial spirit.   He describes himself ...