A war of words erupted at a meeting called by the Treasury on Tuesday between film industry personalities and TV industry officials over a controversial tax on foreign tele-dramas and English movies, witnesses said.Treasury officials looked on helplessly as a verbal duel broke out between veteran actor Ravindra Randeniya, a former UNP MP and now a close supporter of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and Chevaan Daniel, Head of Channel One-MTV over a tax the TV channels were reluctantly paying.

Some hotels are contemplating to delist from the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), as they cannot meet the solvency test stipulated by the new Companies’ Act and many want the government to give some relief in order to avoid being driven to bankruptcy.

Minority shareholders of Maskeliya Plantations Limited (MPL), a subsidiary of Richard Pieris Group triggered a commotion at the MPL annual general meeting last week and threatened to take the directors to court alleging that the shareholders’ interests were not looked after by them.

East West Properties Ltd, owned by business tycoon Nahil Wijesuriya, is eyeing a bigger stake in Dankotuwa Porcelain Ltd (DPL) and is confident of making a ‘difference’ in the company with his engineering background.