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First electro car in Sri Lanka!

Sussane Filippin, Director of The Elephant Corridor hotel, test drives the first electro car to be used in this lifestyle, designer hotel along with Prasanna W. Jayewardene, another director of the hotel. The hotel with rates ranging from $ 150 to $ 1,000 per night would open in Sigiriya at the end of the year. There won't be any motorised traffic at the hotel premises. Instead travel within the hotel for guests would be through the electro car or on elephants, bullock carts or bicycles.

Dressing up the Bench!
By Rajika Chelvaratnam
Male members of the legal profession will receive a face-lift (figuratively speaking of course) in the form of better suits!

The Sri Lanka Bar Association (BASL) has decided to 'spruce up' the esteemed members of the profession and has entered into an agreement with Hameedia to launch a special package for the 'legal eagles'.

This package was the result of a joint effort by Hameedia's and BASL's Technology, Infrastructure and Library Committee consisting of Prasantha Lal de Alwis (Attorney-at-law/chairman) and Binara Gunasekara (Attorney-at-law/convener).

De Alwis last week launched the 'first ever alliance' of this nature. BASL president Ajantha Atukorale praising the dynamic duo said they had opted to approach Hameedia as opposed to any other men's outfitter due to their wealth of experience and commitment to excellence.

Hameedia for their part are offering nothing but the best depending on the lawyer's budget and requirements namely platinum, gold, silver and bronze.

This includes exclusive designer brands like Le Bond, Envoy and Signature.

Hameedia is also taking this 'sprucing up' process one step further by volunteering to offer grooming and fashion tips for the lucky men in black!

Fowzul Hameed, Managing Director of Hameedia, said that 'this latest package was tailor-made for the profession' and that their designs are 'of international standards in keeping with European trends and are either tailor-made or custom-made'.

It looks like this is one case no lawyer would want to miss. Lawyers have never been more trendier!!

Search for distinct medicinal properties in Ceylon tea
The Tea Research Institute (TRI) plans to initiate research to determine whether tea produced in the island's different agro-climatic regions have distinct chemical properties beneficial to health.

"There are definite differences in tea depending on the region where it is grown, but the TRI hopes to substantiate this conclusively through chemical research," said Dr. Tissa Amarakone, TRI senior research officer in charge of the project that is set to begin early next year.

The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) is funding the research. Its findings will be used to market Ceylon tea based on the distinct characteristics produced by the different agro-climatic regions. Presently tea is priced and exported on the basis of the region in which they are grown, such as Nuwara Eliya teas and Dimbulla teas.

The results from this research will hopefully further expand the export market for Ceylon tea, Dr. Amarakone said.

The project is linked to the discovery that tea contains certain compounds like anti-oxidants and polyphenols that help prevent diseases like cancer, cholesterol, high blood pressure and other heart ailments.

Tea Board chairman Ronnie Weerakoon said the Ceylon tea industry hopes to use the findings that drinking tea is good for health to attract the younger generation to the brew.

So far only green tea has been considered to have medicinal properties, he said.
But in the last 10 years or so experiments have shown that drinking black tea too can have health benefits, he said. But, he added, there was no conclusive evidence yet.

The industry also hopes the FAO declaration that Sri Lanka makes the world's cleanest tea, free of pesticide residues, would help boost demand. (RC)

Chamber commends proposed laws
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has commended the government for setting in place a framework for the national budget presentations to be aligned with the needs of the private sector, incorporating regular feedback mechanisms and progress reviews.

"This meets the chambers' long standing submission to successive governments requesting for fiscal discipline-led budget presentations in parliament," the chamber said in a statement.

The scope of the proposed legislation is expected to cover areas beyond the submissions made by the chamber and the "chamber lauds the inclusion of provisions to prevent irresponsible pre-election handouts.

Cruising around with Hemtours
A Colombo travel firm is introducing a novel concept in the capital - a city tour for foreign tourists and locals, which is a regular feature in many other capitals in the world.

Hemtours, cashing in on the influx of foreign visitors for the ICC champions trophy and the Miss Tourism International Contest, is organising day and night city tours this month, the first of its kind in Sri Lanka.

Many other capitals including India have this facility where foreign and local visitors can see historical sites and other interesting areas in the main cities.

A company spokesman said the tour in a luxury coach is expected to include visits to significant places and beauty spots like the Galle Face green, museum, a mosque, the Fort railway station, a Hindu temple at Slave Island, the Gangaramaya temple and the President's House.

He said the day tour would cost around $ 9 while the night tour will be double that amount and would be for four days starting September 21 and of four hours duration. (Thushara)

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