REUTERS:  Australian billionaire James Packer’s casino group Crown Resorts Ltd has agreed to sell its remaining stake in Macau-focused Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd for US$1.16 billion, ending its exposure to the Asian gaming hub.

AFP:  Not many chefs don a welding mask before they enter the kitchen, but Sila Sutharat prefers to cook his chicken sunny side up.

AFP: IMF chief Christine Lagarde yesterday urged eurozone lenders to be ‘far more specific’ in their commitment to debt relief for Greece.

REUTERS: Sri Lankan rupee forwards were slightly firmer in dull trading yesterday due to tepid dollar sales by exporters.

AFP: Beijing and Washington announced yesterday an agreement giving US beef, natural gas and certain financial services access to China’s massive market in a deal highlighting the warm ties nurtured by their presidents.

AFP: Microsoft this week debuted hardware for reaching into virtual worlds powered by its technology as it looked to ‘mixed reality’ as the next big computing platform.

Sri Lanka faced a major setback in fish exports due to the EU ban and the removal of GSP Plus. 

The application of increased Value Added Tax (VAT) on telecom services has begun to bite into the revenues and profits of the country’s largest mobile telecommunication provider which has over 12 million subscribers, the interim results showed.

Private equity firm Guardian Capital Partners (WAPO), which was earlier known as Watapota Investments, expanded its investment portfolio to Rs.367 million at the end of the 2017 financial year, from Rs.221 million year-on-year (YoY).

Singer Sri Lanka PLC has felt the brunt of the weaker economy at the beginning of the year as sales moderated and costs escalated as a weakened rupee and rising interests rates squeezed the margins of the country’s largest consumer durables ret

REUTERS: China saw a rapid acceleration of outbound direct investment in services and industrial deals in 2016, a study showed yesterday, but an investment ‘ice age’ is looming in 2017 as authorities crack down on capital outflows.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which measures short-term changes in Sri Lanka’s manufacturing activities, expanded to 105.5 during the first quarter of 2017 (1Q17).

BLOOMBERG: A surge in demand for Sri Lanka’s latest dollar bond is putting a spotlight on the appetite for emerging-market securities, even amid the Federal Reserve’s tightening campaign.

Jinasena (Pvt) Limited, one of the leading water management systems and solutions providers in Sri Lanka, has launched a solar irrigation system to provide a timely boost to the country’s agriculture sector.

The first two winners of Caltex Star Drive (Car and Bike Chase) received their brand-new Bajaj Discover 125cc motorcycles plus a year’s worth of free engine oil at an event held at the Chevron House in Colombo 3, on May 4th. 

The festive spirit of the Avurudu season helps to bring people closer and Hemas Manufacturing (Pvt) Limited,  makers of Clogard Fresh Blast Gel,  used the season’s celebration to bring the people in the North and South closer in a tru

AFP: Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya, once dubbed the ‘King of Good Times’, was found guilty of contempt by the country’s top court yesterday, after he was found to have sent his children millions of dollars.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) officially launched its flagship publication, the ‘Economic and Social Survey for Asia and the Pacific 2017’, simultaneously in 24 locations around the wor

AFP: Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French presidential election is ‘good news’ for trade-reliant Asia as it eases fears of rising protectionism in Europe, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday.

The Development Strategy and International Trade Ministry and Board of Investment (BoI) of Sri Lanka conducted a dialogue with the European Union (EU) embassy and embassies of the EU representative countries for the second time.

A steep drop in prices of essential items, sustained by steady supplies, has resulted in one of the best Vesak buying seasons for the Sri Lankan consumer, an Industry and Commerce Ministry statement said. 

National Chamber of Exporters (NCE) President Ramal Jasinghe, Secretary General Shiham and other relevant officials called on Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake to brief him on the activities of the chamber for the current year, and also to discuss o

The Hemas Vesak Lantern, which is now a landmark at Braybrooke Place in Colombo since 1998, was ceremonially inaugurated by Hunupitiya Gangarama Temple Chief Incumbent Ven. Galaboda Gnanissara Thera on May 8, 2017. This Vesak Lantern will be on displ

The Observer Research Foundation (ORF) based in New Delhi, in association with the Government of Netherlands organised a conference in Thiruvananthapuram, India recently. 

The PIM Alumni, the professionals’ association of the prestigious Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), affiliated to the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, recently concluded the official installation of its PIMA Association (PIMA) Chair

Last week, Verité facilitated a capacity building workshop for regional chambers of commerce and business associations in Sri Lanka, together with the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and Federation of Chambers of Commerce an

Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves this April slipped 1.4 percent compared to March 2017, to US $ 5.05 billion, just ahead of the government executing its plan to raise reserves to double digit levels by the end of this year.

Sri Lanka’s only glass bottle maker, Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC, posted a net profit of Rs.209.75 million for its fourth quarter of 2017 (4Q17), slightly up from Rs.200.68 million  year-on-year (YoY).

REUTERS: Sri Lankan shares extended gains into a third session yesterday, posting their highest close in nearly one year, with blue chips leading the rise ahead of the Central Bank’s monetary policy  rate announcement.

The European Union (EU) Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, in his statement for Europe Day, said that he is hoping for the readmission of Sri Lanka into the preferential trade programme Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Plus in the comin